What is the oldest language in the world? (Part 1)
Was Irish invented in the twentieth century? Did Galician emerge in the nineteenth century? Of course not, but some say so.
1. From Irish to Galician
Languages are a physical manifestation of our individual identity — that’s why discussions about language are a prodigious source of fiery words, raised pulses, faces flushed with indignation and fingers drumming impatiently in a rush to respond.
Some years ago, Gaston Darren told us how he got into a Twitter discussion between two Irishmen: a Unionist and a Republican… The Unionist said that the Irish language was an invention of the 20th century. It got heated, and the other man fired: shut up, man! Irish is older than English!
There are also discussions like this further south. Not long ago I found (and got involved in) a very heated discussion between some Galicians and a mad Portuguese twiterati who insisted that Galician was invented in the 19th century! One of the Galicians answered back, in a “hold me back!”-manner, that Galician is older than Portuguese.
Who is right?
In a way, nobody — but whoever says Galician was invented in the nineteenth century is more wrong than the others.
You will have imagined that the answer would not be simple — but perhaps it will be surprising to understand why…
2. A misleading metaphor
We walk around with a certain idea of what a language is, which compels us to compare it to a person: it is born, it evolves, sometimes it dies. This metaphor serves us in many cases. But in others, it gives rise to rather misguided ideas.
Regarding the origin of the Romance languages, the general idea is this: there was a stabilised language (Latin), which broke down and gave rise to embryos of other languages. These embryos eventually resulted in national languages: Spanish, French, Portuguese, etc. — these languages developed till they reached the pinnacles of the golden ages of their literary traditions.
Well, this idea is not completely false — but it is quite misleading. To understand this in depth, we have to do something: we must forget written language. Let us just think, for the moment, about language spoken on the street.
3. A language without name
Imagine in the time of Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal — or even before. Imagine what was spoken in the streets of Portugal 100 or 200 years before it was made an independent kingdom.
In writing, the Latin of yore prevailed. But what people spoke was not a much different language, quite distinct from written language. There was no name for that language. However, was it worse than Latin? Was it worse than the language Portuguese people speak nowadays. It allowed speakers to express emotions and to talk, as much as during the Roman Empire or right now. (Don’t forget: we are talking about spoken language!)
You can find, all around you, the extraordinary variety and richness of the words we all use, even those who can hardly write. That never changes. Yes, I know that there are some people who are not so eloquent, but in general we talk to convince, discuss, mock, play… — sometimes we write a whole novel with the mere intonation of a voice in a simple phrase; sometimes we insinuate naughtiness with a little interjection said in a certain way!
Jokes in the playground… Quarrels between couples… Old stories told to grandchildren… Deep conversations on the terrace… Words leave our mouths every minute and let us do so many things!
4. Languages unfold
This ability to talk and to live did not diminish when the Roman Empire disappeared. There was never a time when the tongue spoken by people ceased to be a full-fledged language in the brain of each speaker.
In the same way, the Romans had already received their language from what had come before — and Latin languages, nowadays, continue unfolding into something else.
With natural languages, there is never a moment when we can say: this language was born today. In general, language is transmitted without radical cuts across generations. It just unfolds and changes.
As Gaston Dorren explained in the discussion I spoke of, English and Irish have no age. They are both as old as human language. The same can be said of Portuguese and Galician — with the added complication that many people consider they are still the same language (but that’s a subject for another day).
The second part of this article will be published in the next issue of Language Travels. It will begin with this question: “So what about Basque? Isn’t it older than Spanish?”