Unit2Language当今社会,一个人会讲两种、三种语言已不再是什么稀奇的事
但你有没有思考过这样一个问题:世界上到底有多少种语言
读完下面的短文,你会大吃一惊
Whenpeopleareaskedhowmanylanguagestheythinkthereareintheworld,theanswersareverydifferent
OnerandomsamplingofNewYorkers,forinstance,resultedinanswerslike“probablyseveralhundred”.Howeverwechoosetocountthem,though,thisisnotclose
Whenwelookatreferenceworks,wefindestimatesthathaveescalatedovertime
The1911(11th)editionoftheEncyclopediaBritannica,forexample,suggestsafiguresomewherearound1,000,anumberthatclimbssteadilyoverthecourseofthetwentiethcentury
Thatisnotduetoanyincreaseinthenumberoflanguages,butrathertoourincreasedunderstandingofhowmanylanguagesareactuallyspokeninareasthathadpreviouslybeendescribed
Muchpioneeringworkinprovingthelanguagesoftheworldhasbeendonebymissionaryorganizations(suchastheSummerInstituteo