Which is the oldest language in the world? Tamil, Sanskrit or another?

"Which is the oldest language in the world?" — the internet gives many answers: some say Tamil, some Sanskrit, some Sumerian. The truth is that there is no single sure answer. Why? Because humans were speaking for thousands of years before they learned to write, and spoken language leaves no trace. So linguists look at the question in two parts.

The oldest written languages

The script of the Indus Valley Civilisation is about as old, but it has not yet been deciphered, so nothing can be said for certain about its language. Scholars have proposed many theories, but none is accepted by all.

The oldest living languages

Among languages that were written long ago and are still spoken or used in some form, these stand out:

• Tamil: inscriptions in the Tamil-Brahmi script date back to the 3rd–2nd centuries BCE, and the Sangam literature and the grammar "Tolkappiyam" are very ancient. Tamil is the mother tongue of crores of people — in 2004 it became India's first "classical language".
• Sanskrit: the Rigveda is generally dated to about 1500–1200 BCE. These works were kept alive for centuries by oral tradition. Sanskrit is still used in religion, learning and literature, and Panini's grammar, the "Ashtadhyayi", is considered a marvel of linguistics.
• Greek: its texts in the "Linear B" script date to about 1400 BCE, and modern Greek is a developed form of the same language.
• Chinese: the "oracle bone" inscriptions carved on bones date to about 1200 BCE, and the tradition of Chinese writing has continued ever since.

Did you know? For centuries Hebrew was hardly spoken in daily life and survived mainly in religious texts. In the 19th and 20th centuries it was revived as an everyday spoken language — something very rare in history.

Why is "oldest" so hard to say?

• Languages keep changing: today's Hindi grew from Vedic Sanskrit through the Prakrits and Apabhramsha. Every language develops slowly from an older form, so it is hard to say when a language "began".
• Script and language are different: a script is a way of writing a language. One language can be written in many scripts, and one script can be used for many languages.
• Oral tradition: works such as the Vedas were passed on by word of mouth long before they were written down.

India's language heritage

India is among the richest countries in the world in languages. The Eighth Schedule of the Constitution lists 22 languages, and 11 languages have classical status — Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali. Read more about India's languages in Interesting facts about Indian culture and Old names of India.

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