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  2. List of languages by first written account - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_first...

    Although the first known text by native speakers dates to 1885, the first record of the language is a list of words recorded in 1793 by Alexander MacKenzie. 1885: Motu: grammar by W.G. Lawes: 1886: Guugu Yimidhirr: notes by Johann Flierl, Wilhelm Poland and Georg Schwarz, culminating in Walter Roth's The Structure of the Koko Yimidir Language ...

  3. List of ancestor languages - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ancestor_languages

    (Top) 1 Afro-Asiatic languages. 2 Altaic, Koreanic and Japonic languages. ... This is a list of ancestor languages of modern and ancient languages, detailed for each ...

  4. Oldest language - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 .

  5. List of languages by time of extinction - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_time...

    For many languages which have become extinct in recent centuries, attestation of usage is datable in the historical record, and sometimes the terminal speaker is identifiable. In other cases, historians and historical linguists may infer an estimated date of extinction from other events in the history of the sprachraum .

  6. Ancient language - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_language

    An ancient language is any language originating in times that may be referred to as ancient. There are no formal criteria for deeming a language ancient, but a traditional convention is to demarcate as "ancient" those languages that existed prior to the 5th century. [ 1 ]

  7. Classical language - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_language

    According to the definition by George L. Hart, a classical language is any language with an independent literary tradition and a large body of ancient written literature. [1] Classical languages are usually extinct languages. Those that are still in use today tend to show highly diglossic characteristics in areas where they are used, as the ...

  8. Evolution of languages - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_languages

    The oldest written records of the Quechuan languages was created by Domingo de Santo Tomás, who arrived in Peru in 1538 and learned the language from 1540. He published his Grammatica o arte de la lengua general de los indios de los reynos del Perú (Grammar or Art of the General Language of the Indians of the Royalty of Peru) in 1560. [ 131 ]

  9. Indo-European languages - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_languages

    This language is unique in that its source documents were all composed orally, and were passed down through oral tradition (shakha schools) for c. 2,000 years before ever being written down. The oldest documents are all in poetic form; oldest and most important of all is the Rigveda (c. 1500 BC). Ancient Greek (c. 750 –400 BC).