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This question actually points to several different answers. Read on and find out!
The Oldest Language in the World: Based on Written Accounts
The oldest written language is that of Sumerian. A language spoken in Mesopotamia starting the 4th century BC, possibly even earlier. Mesopotamia is the land area where Iraq is now. Sumerian is a language isolate, which essentially means its a language family consisting of only one language.
During the “proto- literate” period of the language from 3500 to 3000 BC, the written records were all logographic or pictographic. It is believed that there are about 939 signs used during this period. The oldest document found is the Kish tablet, found in modern day Tell al-Uhaymir, Babil Governorate, Iraq.
The study of Sumerian grammar, vocabulary and phonology has been especially difficult for a variety of reasons:
- the features of the writing system,
- there are no native speakers,
- no other languages in the family to compare it with.
Other languages with written accounts that are about as old as that of Sumerian are Egyptian, Akkdian, Eblaite and Elamite. There are also other languages that historians and linguists mention that are possibly as old, and maybe older, as these. An interesting example is the northern Greece language, Albanian. It’s oldest written records appeared around 15th century BC. However, Ptolemy mentioned the Albanian people as early as the first century BC and there is archaeological and linguistic evidence suggesting that they may have been a distinct community even before then.
The Oldest Language in the World: Surviving Languages
There are several conflicting answers to this. Some sources say that Sanskrit is the oldest language in the world that still survives. Sanskrit is Hinduism’s liturgical language and Buddhism and Jainism’s literary and scholarly languages. Classical Sanskrit traces as early as the 4th century BCE. While some consider it a dead language, it is still being used as a liturgical language. There had been attempts to revive the language and in a 2001 census, some 14,000 people self- reported themselves as native speakers.
Latin is another language that some consider to be a dead language. Many modern languages’ vocabulary derive root words from Latin.
Some very religious people believe that Aramaic is the oldest language in the world because it was the language used by Jesus. Its written records date back to some 3,000 years ago. Some written accounts include books in the bible such as those of Daniel and Ezra. A Modern Aramaic is spoken today by very small and isolated communities. With around 550,000 native speakers in the 1990’s. It is important to note though that Modern Aramaic has completely evolved from the one used 3,000 years ago. Therefore, it is not to say that the Aramaic that exists today is the same as the one that Jesus Christ used.
The same goes for Hebrew. Some believe it is the oldest language in the world that still exists. However, while the earliest Hebrew records date back as far as 10th century BCE, the language ceased to exist as everyday spoken language around 200 BCE. Today, Modern Hebrew has about 5.3 million first language speakers.
Of all the spoken languages, the ones that comes closest are probably Chinese, Greek and Tamil.
Old Chinese was the common language in 1046–256 BCE during the Zhou Dynasty. Today, Chinese has 7 dialects, with about 1,365 million speakers of Standard Chinese.
Greek is one of the most important language’s in Europe’s history. Greek dates back to the 3rd millennium BC as a spoken language, with the first written record appearing between 1350 and 1450 BC. Today, there are about 13 million people who speak Greek as a first language.
The oldest Tamil inscriptions that date back from 1st century BC and 2nd century AD were first discovered in Egypt, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
The Oldest Language in the World: The Proto- World Language
Also known as the Proto- Human Language, it is a theoretical ancestor of all the world’s languages. The concept presupposes all known languages to mankind, including sign languages, creoles and pidgins, but not one common ancestor of all the languages. Advocates and experts of linguistic polygenesis do not accept this hypothesis and continue to believe that different languages have different ancestors based on language families. If this concept is accepted, however, it may date back from 200,000 years to 50,000 ago which will very well make it the oldest language in the world.
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