Science Chats Forum

Where do languages come from that have no linguistic comparison? The Navajo is one example I know of for sure. There are others that exist today and that have been found in ancient sites that do not have traceable roots. How is that possible?

You have two questions here. Spoken and written languages are two different things.
It is possible that spoken languages can arise spontaneously; after all, it is reported that twins sometimes invent their own language when young.
Navajo is a member of a spoken language group, so you must not be talking about that.
Written languages can be "found in ancient sites." Where they are not borrowed, they can be invented whole cloth or evolve from local symbols used for accounting (cows, horses, etc.).

I am thinking perhaps there is a communication error in my original question.
Spanish, French and Italian come from Latin.
There are languages that's origins have not been traced. Navajo is a language that does not appear to have come from anywhere and that's why it was useful during WWII.
Where is there information available on the concept of spontaneous language development? I have not heard of that view before.

In WWII there were probably no books on Amerind languages in Japanese; they're rarely taught at our universities even now. The language group for Navajo falls under Apache. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_language

I think I read somewhere that other Native American languages were also used, notably Cherokee; but I haven't found you a ref for that yet.

Although I got this from a book (which I'd probably never be able to locate), there are a lot of sites answering to "language AND twins." This one was on top: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3434134
The languages have nothing to do with what their parents speak. What happens if these little guys get dropped in the wilderness and manage to survive? Language originally came from somewhere.