Which is the oldest living language in the world?

Answer 1

There's a bit of problem with this question. LIVING languages, such as those we use for day-to-day communication, are ALWAYS changing, but generally do so gradually, so that they maintain a connection with the past. Thus, for instance, we speak of "English" of the 8th century A.D. and of today, recognizing their organic connection. Yet in what sense are they "the same language" when speakers of the modern version can make little of nothing of the earlier form?

Looking at it this way, the question is almost impossible to answer, because we might take ANY language back generation by generation through the millenia.

So, for instance, though the Latin taught in schools, used in the church, etc. is NOT a living language, but a studying of the ancient form of the language (or a modification of it), there is a whole set of what we now regard as separate languages that are natural descedants of various regional variations -- types of "Vulgar Latin". (In fact, if only one had survived we might even still CALL it LATIN!)

Some have mentioned Aramaic in this connection. But the few versions of Aramaic that still survive (usually called "Neo-Aramaic") are significantly changed from Old Aramaic of the first millennium B.C. So why should these qualify any more than Greek (also changed but continuous), or that the Vulgar Latin dialects we called French, Spanish, Italian, etc ?

The same goes for any dialect of Chinese you might choose.

Usually people answer this question based on a idea of which language we are able to TRACE BACK the furthest. But that is a mere accident of what written records have been preserved. There is no reason to think that those languages for which such records were never made, or which simply didn't happen to be preserved for us, are any less ancient in their heritage.


But perhaps you are interested in the language which is still spoken today, in WHATEVER context, in essentially the same form as long ago. As noted above, this really does not happen with daily living languages. But some are preserved (or revived) for SPECIAL use. Best example of this is liturgical languages. By this measure, we would probably have to go not with eccelsiastical Latin but with "Classical Sanskrit" of the first millenium B.C., which is still used for liturgical purposes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit

Answer 2

No doubt Sanskrit is the mum the entire languages as according to the grammarian Mr Pink and Thomas. Of past due, it has come to be a literary language and now few enormous quantities individuals in Germany and India are speakme too. Apart from this subsequent dwelling oldest language is Kannada and ample numbers of proofs are there and it's been proved and approved and identified through Guinness and each and every Indian must be pleased with it. No doubt few different Indian languages like Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu too had identical roots however Kannada had the entire credentials. Please remember the language I am scripting this(English) is greatly spoken, documented reside language of the arena which is likely one of the youngest one. We weren't the originators of the Past and for that reason do not be over enthusiastic / enthusiast. Accept , be proud and experience as we're belonging to this first-class nation who had given ZERO(zero) to the arena with out which no developments would were completed. Achyuth Kumar

Answer 3

Some experts suggest Tamil as the oldest living language. Others say Sanskirt. Other very old languages that are still spoken are Persian, Hebrew, Basque (before Latin), to name a few.

Answer 4

I think it is Aramaic, at least I read recently that there are still native speakers in existence. Otherwise it has to be Chinese, although there probably is not much similarity of the ancient language with the present-day one, if the rate languages have changed in Europe is anything to go by.

Answer 5

Hi.
If you mean writing it might be Chinese with archaeological evidence, mainly the oracle bones found, that dates Chines to the 14th to 11th centuries BC. It is rumored that the Yellow Emperor created the Chinese writing system in around 2600 BC.

Ancient Egyptian language has written records from around 3200 BC, though it not spoken anymore.

The Sumerian language might be even more ancient, though not spoken anymore.

Answer 6

Sanskrit

Answer 7

Body language, no doubts.

Answer 8

grunting...

Answer 9

latin