Question: Do geographical features affect language?

Carolyn McGettigan answered on 8 Jan 2018:

Yes, geography does have an effect on languages. The rivers, seas, mountains and deserts that might have separated human groups in our evolutionary history will have meant that some languages will have developed independently because those peoples did not mix. There may also be some specific influences of geography on the way languages developed within groups confined to certain territories: for example, living in a hot desert climate would require a different vocabulary than a dense forest habitat.