Oldest language
# 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
