Oldest language

"Oldest language" may refer to:

• the emergence of language itself in human evolution
  • origin of language
  • proto-language, a stage before the emergence of language proper
  • mythical origins of language
• a Proto-human language, the hypothetical, most recent common ancestor of all the world's languages
• the date of attestation in writing (epigraphy).
  • see list of languages by first written accounts.
• the conservative nature of a given language (low rate of language change, viz. "old" in the sense of "has not changed much for a long time"), see
  • glottochronology
  • historical linguistics