Thank you for the question on the origin of languages from the Biblical account, “Is the Biblical account of events in Babel the origin of multiple languages?”
According to the Bible, the building of the Tower of Babel was the reason why God “confused” the language of the gathered people.
Genesis 11 says this, “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As people moved eastward,[a] they found a plain in Shinar[b] and settled there. 3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” 8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel[c]—because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth” (NIV).
For one’s consideration on the divergence of languages:
A. God created Adam and Eve with the ability to hear and speak to God.
As one reads Genesis 1 and 2, God gave Adam and Eve the ability to hear and to speak to God. The written language was necessarily as verbal speech or depiction of objects would have been adequate.
Genesis 1 records this, “God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food” (NIV). The first recorded words of Adam is found in Genesis 2 when God brought the woman to Adam.
Adam was not a caveman who grunted. He was able to name the animals, reflect on himself and being able to communicate to God and to the woman. They were given authority to care and to rule over the Garden of Eden and beyond. At this point, Adam and Eve didn’t name the sea creatures for they were on land. Those sea life was later name by others who lived by the coast and discover sea life creatures.
The text does not state the language used by Adam and Eve. Thus one does not what words were used by Adam and Eve. Linguists thinks that the Akkadian language is one of the earliest written languages. The conversion from pictorial drawing to writing would have become necessarily for a central government to rule over an area of land. Whether a written language was used prior to the Flood is unknown.
For example, the discovery at Gobeki Tepe have carvings of animals on its monoliths without any inscriptions. This site is dated to about 11000 BCE, older than Stonehedge. See Gobekli Tepe: The World’s First Temple?
B. The Expansion of the descendants of Adam and Eve.
With prolong life of the descendants of Adam and Eve with the multiplication of humans, the families began to spread further away from the Garden of Eden. as they wanted more land for themselves and their animals.
The Scripture describe that the people found a plain and began to build a city and civilization. The edifice was a symbol of their achievement that stood taller than any other buildings which can be view for miles.
Genesis 1 says this, “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As people moved eastward,[a] they found a plain in Shinar[b] and settled there. 3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” 8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel[c]—because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth” (NIV).
The text doesn’t state how God confused the one language into multiple languages or sounds from people group. Regardless of the sound of words, the pictorial drawing would be understand by everyone even though the sounds may be different. The transition of pictures to symbolize sounds for that object led other people group to develop their own spoken and written language. Akkadians, Egyptian hieroglyphics, and the Asian words were pictorial but developed into representing objects. Thus the verbal tones evolved but the written language became standardized for growing people group with a large territory under a ruler. Archaeologists believe that the Akkadians and the Egyptian civilization developed around 3100–3500 BCE while the Asian civilization developing around1600 BCE under a central ruler.
One can only imagine what our world would be like if all the world’s people spoke one language and were cooperative in their world projects. To be able to live for hundreds of years, artists, mathematicians, chemists, cosmologists, architects and builders can accomplish almost anything if they lived that long. It would be a great society or would be a horrible society depending on its rulers and their goals in life.
SUMMARY: God knows the selfishness of human hearts. Can it be that God “confused” the languages of the people so that there wouldn’t be one cruel world dictator?
For more perspectives:
https://www.quora.com/Is-the-Biblical-account-of-events-in-Babel-the-origin-of-multiple-languages