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