Final answer:
Language changes are influenced by migration and cultural exchange, technological advancement, and geographic isolation. Political stability does not primarily drive linguistic change. Linguistics provides insight into the history and culture of ancient peoples.
Step-by-step explanation:
Factors that contribute to changes in language include migration and cultural exchange, technological advancement, and geographic isolation. Political stability, while influential in other areas of culture and society, is not a primary driver of linguistic divergence.
Reasons for linguistic divergence such as cultural exchange and encounters with different groups and environments enable the blend and evolution of languages, leading to new dialects and languages. Technological advancements, like the invention of air travel and the internet, often spread the use of certain languages globally, influencing linguistic changes as well. Geographic isolation can lead to linguistic isolation, where languages develop uniquely due to physical barriers to language diffusion, like the case of Basque speakers in Spain and France.
Regarding the inability to give an exact number of languages, factors like political and historical events, cultural resistance to adopting foreign languages, and the decline or endangerment of languages due to colonialism and imperialism, all account for difficulties in language classification and count. Moreover, linguistics can teach us a great deal about the history and culture of ancient peoples by studying the evolution and spread of their languages.