Question regarding language

[Macoleco]

Question: How is it that languages keep their identity through their development?

Languages are invented by long periods of time by people who never met. Why is it then, for example, that Japanese does not have the sound L nor a letter for it? Nobody ever invented a word with that sound?

[Peebothuhlu]

Question: How is it that languages keep their identity through their development?

Languages are invented by long periods of time by people who never met. Why is it then, for example, that Japanese does not have the sound L nor a letter for it? Nobody ever invented a word with that sound?

Well.... not that I, know much of anything about language ( I speak English and bad English.     )

But... languages don't keep thier identity ove time. They have always seemigly continued to change and grow/shift.

Look at Latin turning into both French and Spanish for example.

Perhaps with the modern advent of the interwebz well see more language 'blending together faster?

Cheers.

Not at work.

[brewer]

Hella invention.

[Belacqua]

Question: How is it that languages keep their identity through their development?

Wouldn't a language need a lot of consistency to be useful? I mean, it works because it stays (mostly) the same over a long period of time. If it lost its identity then it wouldn't be useful for communication any more. 

I suppose the change from, say, Chaucer to modern English is a kind of Ship of Theseus problem. Over time every single part gets replaced, but at no point does it stop being English.

Languages are invented by long periods of time by people who never met. Why is it then, for example, that Japanese does not have the sound L nor a letter for it? Nobody ever invented a word with that sound?

One reason would be that the Japanese syllabary is less blendable than Roman letters. You can't do diphthongs or digraphs. Think of all the blended sounds in English, and even more in French or Italian, and Japanese just doesn't do that. Like if you pronounce the Italian words for "the airplanes" -- gli aeroplani -- that blended "gli" sound can't be written in Japanese. And the p and l together wouldn't work, because you'd need a vowel between the two. The "gli" would be impossible, and the "aeroplani" would come out "a-e-ro-pu-ra-ni." 

It gets hilarious sometimes. McDonald's is Ma-ku-do-na-ru-do. This has been shorted by kids and given a verb ending, so Ma-ku-ru means "to eat at McDonald's." If your mom asks you where you ate, you'd say "Makutta" = "I ate at McDonald's."

You have ら ra り ri る ru れ re ろ ro, and all the other letters that express a consonant and vowel together, but no way to introduce a sound that isn't expressed in that syllabary. I don't think it would make sense to introduce a word into the language that you couldn't write.

[Brian37]

Question: How is it that languages keep their identity through their development?

Languages are invented by long periods of time by people who never met. Why is it then, for example, that Japanese does not have the sound L nor a letter for it? Nobody ever invented a word with that sound?

Our species evolution of communication isn't something you can pinpoint the exact moment a sound or word morphed into something different.

There was no word for "tweeting" or "texting" 200 years ago.