TED-Ed: Alex Gendler: How languages evolve

The video explores the evolution of languages from a single origin, discussing how early human migration led to the development of diverse languages. It explains the concept of language families and the methods linguists use to trace language relationships. Challenges in classifying languages and dialects are highlighted, along with the speculative nature of language superfamilies. The video concludes by suggesting that foreign languages may not be as unfamiliar as they seem.

What challenges do linguists face when constructing language family trees?

Why is it difficult to determine the number of languages in the world?