“how many languages are there” is the same kind of question as “how many colours are there”. It doesn’t work like that, you can group stuff into as many or as few categories as you like.
The only real answer is probably like “at least three”, for both.
It’s interesting to note that every person who knows a language defines its words just a tiny bit differently than everyone else, based on their personal experiences with the objects and concepts and actions the words refer to.
One could, therefore, argue there are at least eight billion different languages spoken on Earth.
“how many languages are there” is the same kind of question as “how many colours are there”. It doesn’t work like that, you can group stuff into as many or as few categories as you like.
The only real answer is probably like “at least three”, for both.
It’s interesting to note that every person who knows a language defines its words just a tiny bit differently than everyone else, based on their personal experiences with the objects and concepts and actions the words refer to.
One could, therefore, argue there are at least eight billion different languages spoken on Earth.