Climate affects which types of languages evolved where.

Photo: flickr/https://www.flickr.com/photos/tim_uk/9545721901Have you ever wondered why there are so many languages in the world, and why certain kinds of languages are found only in certain regions? According to this study, the answer to both of these questions might have something to do with the climate. Specifically, these scientists found that complex tonal languages, like those found in east Asia and central Africa, are more likely to exist in places with high humidity. Apparently, the humidity in the air affects which sounds we're able to make with our vocal cords, and the sounds in tonal languages require higher humidity levels than those in other languages. Which of course leads me to wonder: what happens when Vietnamese is spoken in the middle of the Sahara? Climate, vocal folds, and tonal languages: Connecting the physiological and geographic dots "The sound systems of human languages are not generally thought to be ecologically adaptive. We ...