Sumerian is the oldest written language in the world, with its earliest known texts dating back to around 3500 BC.

Mandarin Chinese is the most widely spoken language in the world, with over 1.1 billion native speakers.

The Indo-European language family is the largest in the world, with over 400 languages spoken by over 3 billion people.

Language change is the process by which languages change over time, due to factors such as sound changes, grammatical changes, and lexical changes.

English is considered to be the lingua franca of the modern world, due to its widespread use in international communication, business, and diplomacy.

Language shift is the process by which a language is adopted by a new group of speakers, often replacing their original language.

Mandarin Chinese is often considered to be the most difficult language to learn for native English speakers, due to its complex tonal system and character-based writing system.

Language death is the process by which a language becomes extinct, often due to factors such as assimilation, language shift, and population decline.

Swahili is considered to be the most widely spoken language in Africa, with over 100 million speakers across the continent.

Language contact is the process by which two or more languages influence each other, often resulting in changes in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.

Russian is considered to be the most widely spoken language in Europe, with over 100 million native speakers.

Language acquisition is the process by which a child acquires a language, typically their native language.

Spanish is considered to be the most widely spoken language in South America, with over 200 million native speakers.

Language standardization is the process by which a language is standardized, often through the creation of a standard grammar, spelling, and pronunciation.

English is considered to be the most widely spoken language in North America, with over 200 million native speakers.