It's impossible to definitively say which language was the "first" on Earth. While we can trace the history of some languages back thousands of years, the origins of human language are lost to time.
- No written records: The earliest languages likely predate any written records, making it impossible to pinpoint the first language.
- Language evolution: Languages constantly evolve and change over time, making it difficult to trace a direct lineage back to a single origin.
The oldest known languages with written records include:
- Sumerian: Found in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) with written evidence dating back to 3500 BC.
- Egyptian: Hieroglyphic writing developed in Egypt around 3200 BC.
- Akkadian: Developed in Mesopotamia around 2300 BC.
However, these are just the earliest recorded languages, not necessarily the first ones spoken. It's highly likely that many other languages existed before them, but we simply have no way of knowing what they were.