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A classical language is a language with a literary tradition that can be judged as "classical".

According to George L. Hart , "[t]o 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."

Note that the judgement of a language as "classical" is a judgement of its literature, not the language itself. No language is inherently more "classical" or "ancient" than another in terms of phonology or grammar.

1 List

The following languages fit George L. Hart 's definition:

Indo-European languages:
- Attic Greek
- Latin (despite its Greek influence)
- Sanskrit
- Persian
Afro-Asiatic languages:
- Classical Arabic
- Hebrew
Dravidian languages:
- Tamil
Sino-Tibetan languages:
- Classical ChineseClassical Chinese or Literary Chinese (, pinyin: wenyan, literal meaning: " literary language" or , literal: "ancient written language") is a traditional style of written Chinese prose using grammar and vocabulary very different from any modern spoken for

2 Tamil

Written Tamil is relatively unaltered since 2500 years ago. For example, the TirukkuralTirukkural in Tamil) is an important work of Tamil literature by Tiruvalluvar written in the form of couplets expounding various aspects of life. It contains 1330 couplets divided into 133 chapters of 10 couplets each. Each couplet consists of seven words (2000 years old) is comprehensible to present-day speakers. Currently, the language has 75 million speakers.

3 See also

literary languageA literary language is a register of a language that is used in writing, and which often differs in lexicon and syntax from the language used in speech. English has such a register. Consider this sentence: few people would speak such a sentence aloud, unl
official languageAn official language is a language that is specifically designated to be so in the constitutions of countries, states, and other territories. States and areas without a constitution, by this definition, lack official languages. Officially recognized minor
sacred languageA sacred language is a language, frequently a dead language, that is cultivated for religious reasons by people who speak another language in their daily life. In particular, a liturgical language is a sacred language. The traditions involved in religious
standard languageA standard language is a particular dialect of a language that has been given either legal or quasi-legal status. It is said to be the most correct language of a nation. Usually, but not always, based on the tongue of a capital city, a standard language i

Classical languages

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