* Language is a complex and evolving phenomenon. It's impossible to pinpoint a specific moment in time when language originated.
* We lack concrete evidence. Spoken language leaves no physical traces, and early writing systems only date back a few thousand years.
* The concept of a single "first language" is likely inaccurate. It's more probable that various proto-languages developed independently in different parts of the world, and over time, these languages diverged and evolved into the languages we know today.
What we can say:
* Language likely arose alongside the development of human cognition and social interaction.
* The oldest attested languages are believed to be around 6,000-7,000 years old. These include Sumerian, Akkadian, and Egyptian hieroglyphs.
* Linguistic research suggests that all languages share common features and likely evolved from a single ancestral language. This hypothetical ancestor is known as Proto-World.
So, while we can't definitively say which language was the "first," we can say that language is a powerful tool that has shaped human history and culture for millennia.