The fact that mankind's languages are vanishing from civilization at any alarming rate is proof that evolution is a lie.
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Wrong, in fact it is a very interesting way to apply evolution
Populations that were separated long ago "evolved" a new language, and they are now adopting "real languages" since they no longer are isolated and get their hands (or ears) on a much more practical and global language (English, French, German, Spanish, etc...). Not such a hard case, but evolution has a word for this kind of stuff, and so does logic
because linguistics is JUST LIKE biology, and we all know that living species never go extinct, ever, so therefore neither can languages!
how much would i have to drink before this sort of "logic" started making sense to me? never mind; i can't spare that many neurons.
Though it isn't biological evolution, it does kind of play on the concept of microevolution, like the famous white/black moths. As one language becomes less useful in a global sense (Icelandic, or many Aboriginal languages), people will favour more global languages like English of Chinese in subsequent generations.
If Icelandic gets very popular or important in the next 100 years, the reverse will occur.
If there were any link between language and evolution, it would be yet further proof that it exists. Languages disappear as the world globalizes and people need to speak other languages, use other languages for their prestige, express abstract concepts unavailable in their own language or have daily contact - even in their own family - with people who do not speak their language. Languages can also appear very quickly: 150 years ago, nobody spoke Bislama or Tok Pisin; today, both are national languages, of Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea respectively. Some languages come and go in a very short space of time, such as the pidgin used between Americans and Vietnamese during the Vietnam War; in 1970, it had hundreds of thousands of speakers but in 1950 it had none and today there are none. What have the survivors all got in common? Adaptability to new circumstances or, if you will, survival of the fittest.
As the languages are melding together some are disappearing, when we lived further apart they were more varied. Evolutional theory and mans migration fits.
English has become dominant and the language of world business because it is the most precise, connected, detailed and largest in volume, mostly because English adopts other languages (the spread of English and our adopting other words having a lot to do with British colonization and western business) words and many other languages resist this.
So as usual Stewarts completely wrong and easily proven so.
Wait, what? What does language have to do with biological evolution? People can learn multiple languages and borrow words from them. You can't do that sort of thing in biological evolution. It doesn't matter how many wolf pelts you get, your children won't be born with fur without the proper genes. The two are entirely unrelated.
The reverse can happen, too. When communication breaks down over long periods of time between groups that speak the same language, each group's version of that language can become subject to "speciation." This is precisely what happened to Latin during the Dark Ages. It evolved into a variety of languages such as Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian, etc.
Esperanto. Klingon.
Therefore Evolution proved - according to your own logic, Davey-boy - and simultaneously your argument is not only a lie, it's not just vanished, but it never fucking existed to be considered an 'argument' in the first place.
Rather like your reputation, eh David J. 'Gary Glitter' Stewart...?! >:D
I think this one needs an award for idiocy density; in one single line, Mr. Stewart here has demonstrated his complete and utter lack of understanding of anything regarding linguistics, evolution, and every single subject related to history in any manner or form.
Oh, David... since the selection pressure for a language is that it is able to convey a message to others, any language that is used by a small* number of people in a GLOBAL community is not as "fit" as a language that is used by a larger number of people in that same global community.
In other words, the fact that some low-population languages are dying out shows that Evolution (as a system) is quite factual.
So, David... either you are a lying shitbag, or you are utterly ignorant of what Evolution actually entails. I'm not sure which would be worse, to be honest.
* I say small, but that's a relative term and needs to take into account that the number might be relatively small yet still be large enough to be "fit" enough to convey messages to a large enough group... of course, since there are only so many different languages you can learn in a lifetime (for the average person) only the ones that are "most fit" will survive...
Fut fact... Capitalism (yes, that thing people like you like so much) is ALSO proof of the factual nature of Evolution... it has selection pressures, only those fit enough for the niche in the market survive, and failing to adapt to the ever-changing Market makes a business go "extinct"... funny how you accept everything about Evolution as long as it's about anything but Biology.
survival of the fittest, best suited to its environment would suggest languages and evolution go well together.
people interact over much bigger areas than in the past. Radio and tv and even movies spread language very quickly. regional dialects and tribal languages are disappearing in favor of a common one.
I'm always hearing people being told to "learn fucking English!", so, clearly, language reproduces sexually. Ergo, evolution.
No it's a sign that now that our world is more connected then ever before and the language barrier is less of a wall then it use to be everyone speaking the same language most of the time makes sense.
Languages developing due to different groups of humans being separate and by them selves makes sense. We have seen how the English language can vary even in different parts of the same country. No tower is needed to explain language, natural selection does the job better.
The stupid, no joke, literally hurts me. Literally, physically, hurts me.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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