Languges including some that are recorded or are still spoken for example.
2006-12-21 14:34:34 · 9 answers · asked by The Young Creator 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
The correct answer is Sumerian. Sumerian has the oldest written records of any language in the world, about 5000 years old. Only Egyptian comes close, with written records about 4500 years old.
The first answer is completely and totally wrong about Sanskrit. It is NOT made up of "Proto-European" and "Proto-Asian". That is utter nonsense. Sanskrit evolved out of Proto-Indo-Iranian which evolved out of Proto-Indo-European. And Proto-Indo-European is the ancestor of only about 250 languages in the world, NOT of "every other language". There are about 1000 languages in Eurasia alone and PIE is the ancestor of only about a quarter of them.
2006-12-21 16:43:33 · answer #1 · answered by Taivo 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
According to anthropologists and linguists, the oldest human language is the Sumerian. There tablets showing crude drawings of common animals and tools, which were later replaced by the cuneiforms or spike/nail writings. But there are archeological discoveries of oracle bones, that is, inscriptions on animal bones and turtle shells in An Yang , China, which according to the archaeologists are around 3600 years old, or were written during the Shang Dynasty, the Second Dynasty of the Chinese Kingdom. If they were used as far back as 1600 BC, that does not automatically mean, it was invented during that period. Most probably it had been in use earlier than that, during he first Dynasty, which is the Xia Dynasty, c 2100-1600 BC.
There is the Egyptian Hieroglyphs which are supposed to be also about 3600 years old.
But of all those three ancient languages, only the Chinese characters are still in use today, although there have been a lot of changes through the ages, but you can still trace its origins of pictographs, but simpler than the Egyptian hieroglyphs.
2006-12-21 22:52:50 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hebrew is my best guess
The languages of mankind split off from one point after The Noacian Flood when the city of Babylon was founded and a great tower ..like a pyramid, was being constructed ...(perhaps the builders wanted something high enough that wouldn't be covered by a flood) One day God decided to force them to spread out so he changed their their speech patterns such that they spoke different languages, and they gradually gave up building the tower. Hence the expression "What are you Babbling about?" That also is why the pyramid is common in many cultures. They migrated from there with their beliefs and their new language all over the earth. The first part of the Bible was written in Hebrew so all the information of the beginning of mankind's history is there.
2006-12-21 22:42:04 · answer #3 · answered by Russell 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Sanskrit. Before that it's posited that there were two: proto asian and proto european. To the best of linguistic knowledge, almost all languages spring from these two roots. There are a few abnomilies which can't be traced to either and leave most language experts mystified.
2006-12-21 22:40:10 · answer #4 · answered by quietwalker 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Language of signs
2006-12-21 22:42:27 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
I learned to speak a little Latin. It's a dead language,but it was pretty fun!
2006-12-21 22:41:36 · answer #6 · answered by imag4dream 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋
sanskrit..dates back very evry longtime.
2006-12-22 00:24:04 · answer #7 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Latin could be one
2006-12-22 00:05:09 · answer #8 · answered by Abbey Road 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I have no idea. Google it.
2006-12-21 22:55:54 · answer #9 · answered by xanga.com/the_skirt_girl 1 · 0⤊ 2⤋