Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

The Linguistic Diversity of Aboriginal Europe. Conditions in Europe have obviously changed radically over the past three millennia. True, one's native language is still learned in the first few years of life, and is still learned from parents, caregivers, and older playmates; that's clearly been true since language became a universal characteristic of our species, probably at least 100,000 years ago. And it's still true that language is most often used to communicate with and express solidarity with one's family, friends, and neighbors. But everything else has changed. Most Europeans now live in powerful states that insist on the use of one or two languages throughout their territories; that's the main reason why most local languages like Occitan and Breton are slowly dying out. Moreover, most of those states officially recognize only one dialect of each of their official languages—a “standard” dialect.