* No Definitive Evidence: We don't have any written records or artifacts from that early period. The oldest known written languages date back only a few thousand years, and even those are fragmented and difficult to decipher.
* Language Evolution: Language is a constantly evolving system. It changes over time through natural processes, leading to the diversification of languages we see today. Tracing a single language back to its absolute origin is incredibly complex.
* The "Proto-Language" Concept: Linguists theorize that all modern languages descended from a single "proto-language" spoken by our common ancestors. However, the exact nature of this proto-language remains unknown and is likely to stay that way.
What We Can Say:
* Estimated Timeframe: Most experts believe the first languages emerged somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago, coinciding with the development of modern human cognition.
* Early Communication: Before full-fledged languages, early humans likely relied on gestures, sounds, and rudimentary forms of communication.
* The "Out of Africa" Hypothesis: The dominant theory suggests that the proto-language originated in Africa and spread as humans migrated across the globe.
In Conclusion:
While we can speculate and make informed guesses about the first language, we lack definitive evidence to confirm its existence, nature, or origin. The mystery of the very first language continues to fascinate linguists and anthropologists.