WHEN it comes to communicating and connecting with others, language is the most important tool we have. But it isn鈥檛 always a unifying force. A survey of people in 14 high-income countries, for example, found that language was considered by far , which suggests we tend to think people who don鈥檛 speak 鈥渙ur national language鈥� may not belong.
The reconstruction of prehistoric languages offers an intriguing antidote to this way of thinking. As we explore in a feature this week, 鈥�The hunt for the lost ancestral language of Europe and southern Asia鈥�, many of the world鈥檚 tongues share a common history. This goes beyond the obvious 鈥� the similarities between English and German, say 鈥� and instead shows how languages as diverse as Bengali, Hungarian and Mongolian might ultimately all belong to the same vast 鈥渟uper-family鈥�.
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The linguists, geneticists and archaeologists chasing down the prehistoric origins of all these languages should be applauded. Their work not only reveals more about the ancient people who spoke this ancestral tongue, but also reminds us that it is scientifically legitimate to seek out cultural identity at an international level.
Their research can be misused, of course. The fact that so many living people speak a so-called 鈥淚ndo-European鈥� language is because, deep in prehistory, the people who spoke these tongues migrated across the Eurasian landmass, carrying the languages with them. As a result, various languages disappeared. At first glance, this may seem to support extremist views that portray migrants as frightening because of their power to weaken 鈥渙ur鈥� culture. The truth is more nuanced, however, with evidence that prehistoric communities borrowed cultural ideas from one another in a way that suggests immigrants weren鈥檛 feared.
With ongoing research, these subtler readings of prehistory are easier to detect. The challenge will be to ensure they are brought to the fore when today鈥檚 discussions about cultural identity lean on the prehistoric evidence.
