Linguistics and The Book of Mormon - Native American Language-development

Native American Language-development

In 1922, LDS General Authority B. H. Roberts reviewed in depth the current research at the time regarding language development and dialects among the native American peoples, which was published in 1985 as Studies of the Book of Mormon after his death in 1933.

Under the assumption that the majority of the Native Americans descend from the peoples described in the Book of Mormon, Roberts noted that linguistic evidence among the Native American peoples does not appear to support the Book of Mormon narrative, inasmuch as the diverse language stocks and dialects that exist would not have had enough time to develop from a single language dating from 400 A.D. (the date of the conclusion of the Book of Mormon record). He noted:

The facts...developed up to this point seem to be--
1. That there are a large number of separate language stocks in America that show very little relationship to each other.
2. That it would take a long time - much longer than that recognized as "historic times" - to develop these dialects and stocks where the development is conceived of as arising from a common source of origin - some primitive language.
3. That there is no connection between the American languages and the language of any people of the Old World. New World languages appear to be indigenous to the New World.
4. That the time limits named in the Book of Mormon - which represents the people of America as speaking and writing one language down to as late a period as 400 A.D. - is not sufficient to allow for these divergences into the American language stocks and their dialects.

Apologists from FARMS have published studies that claim that the linguistic evidence cited by Roberts above does not necessarily contradict narrative of the Book of Mormon. Specifically, if one adheres to the Limited Geography Model, then it is possible that many of the peoples of the Book of Mormon are not the principal ancestors of the Native Americans. One Mormon linguist has published a survey of similarities between Semitic languages and Uto-Aztecan.

Specialists in the languages of Native America have accepted no proposals for a relationship between any Native American language or language family and the languages of the ancient Near East.