Classical language

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A classical language, in one sense, is a language with a literature that is "classical"—ie, "it should be ancient, it should be an independent tradition that arose mostly on its own, not as an offshoot of another tradition, and it must have a large and extremely rich body of ancient literature."¹ (George L. Hart)

In another sense of the word, an important criterion is that a language should have a broad influence over an extended period of time, even after it is no longer a colloquial mother tongue in its original form. If one language uses roots from another language to coin words (in the way that many European languages use Greek and Latin roots to devise new words such as "telephone" etc.), this is an indication that the second language is a classical language. Also, the writing system of such a classical languages will often have spread to be used by other languages.

Thus classical languages tend to be either dead languages, or show a high degree of diglossia, as the spoken varieties of the language diverge further and further away from the classical written language over centuries.

Note that the judgement as to whether a language is "classical" is made on the basis of external factors, and not the nature of the language itself.

Contents 1 List of classical languages 2 Quote 3 See also 4 External links 5 Notes

[edit] List of classical languages

• Indo-European languages:
  • Classical Greek
  • Classical Sanskrit
  • Pali
  • Latin
  • Classical Persian
  • Old Church Slavonic
• Afro-Asiatic languages:
  • Classical Arabic
  • Hebrew
• Dravidian languages:
  • Tamil
• Sino-Tibetan languages:
  • Classical Chinese

[edit] Quote

"When we realize that an educated Japanese can hardly frame a single literary sentence without the use of Chinese resources, that to this day Siamese and Burmese and Cambodgian bear the unmistakable imprint of the Sanskrit and Pali that came in with Hindu Buddhism centuries ago, or that whether we argue for or against the teaching of Latin and Greek [in schools] our arguments are sure to be studded with words that have come to us from Rome and Athens, we get some indication of what early Chinese culture, Buddhism, and classical mediterranean civilization have meant in the world's history. There are just five languages that have had overwhelming significance as carriers of culture. These are classical Chinese, Sanskrit, Arabic, Greek, and Latin. In comparison with these, even such culturally important languages such as Hebrew and French sink into a secondary position." — Edward Sapir, Language (1921).

[edit] See also

• history of the Greek language
• literary language
• official language
• sacred language
• standard language
• List of languages by first written accounts

[edit] External links

• Prof. Hart's support for the inclusion of Tamil as a Classical language

[edit] Notes

Note 1: According to University of California, Berkeley linguist George L. Hart:

[To] qualify as a classical tradition, a language must fit several criteria: it should be ancient, it should be an independent tradition that arose mostly on its own not as an offshoot of another tradition, and it must have a large and extremely rich body of ancient literature.