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What Is The Oldest Language In the World?

WR
by William Reid
22.06.2022

There are plenty of languages in today’s world. Every region has a different language with various origins. If we make a rough estimate, we now have 7096 living languages. Out of all these languages, every third one is endangered. You may get less than 1000 speakers of the oldest language.

Oldest Language

It is one of the challenging questions what is the oldest language in world? Where are the ancestors of the first language?

Language plays a significant role in our lives and has become the pillar of civilization on Earth. Can you imagine any other way of communication on Earth? If there is no first language, imagine the world without communication. It is impossible for any person, and even we can’t imagine it. Right?

Language shapes a community and represents its cultural and moral values.

The first language of the world

There is a massive fluid of languages and their continuous evaluation. Hard to determine is the first language in world. We can follow the roots of history and lead to different language origins. But it is hard to say any specific language was the world’s first language among our ancestors.

The only best way is to judge language according to its age. With continuous and in-depth research, we can get the proofs of language when it is written and in which form. Again keep in mind that it is always guesswork. These old languages also remained in use for many years and then becamed extinct in world. Previously, 1000 years ago, languages were written on stone and papyri, but it is not savable like paper. Therefore, the first language in the world is always a mystery.

Old dead language on Earth

There are the different oldest languages on Earth. The oldest extinct languages don’t have any speakers. These languages are dead, and you can not find native speakers from any community. According to archaeological evidence, the oldest language in the world is Sumerian. It has ancient roots back in 3500 BC where archaeologists found the explanations of the Sumerian language in Iraq. This evidence also represents that it may be the world’s first language.

Later on, the Akkadian language replaced the Sumerian. The Akkadian remained in the communication mode 2000 BC. At that time; it was an essential language for ceremonial and sacred language even in 1century. The modern language also has some roots in the Sumerian and Akkadian languages.

However, the Sumerian also has different periods. The periods of the Sumerian include:

  • Old or Classical Sumerian ranging 26th–23rd century BC
  • Archaic Sumerian ranging 31–26 century BC
  • Neo-Sumerian ranging 23 –21 century BC
  • Late Sumerian ranging 20 –18 century BC
  • Post-Sumerian ranging 1700 BC
Oldest Language In World

However, the other oldest dead languages also have a long history. These include:

  • Hurrian back in 21st century BC
  • Palaic ranges in 16 century BC
  • Egyptian earliest language back in 2690 BC
  • Akkadian was popular middle 3 millennium BC
  • Elamite earliest language in the middle 3 millennium BC
  • Hittite found in 17 century BC
  • Mycenaean Greek to 1450 BC
Oldest Language In World

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