Classical language

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.

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A classical language, is a language with a literature

Literature

Literature is the art of written works. Literally translated, the word means "acquaintance with letters" . In Western culture the most basic written literary types include fiction and non-fiction....
 that is classical— i.e., 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. (UC Berkeley linguist George L. Hart

George L. Hart

George L. Hart is a professor of Tamil language at the University of California, Berkeley.Hart received his Ph.D. in Sanskrit from Harvard University and taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before joining the faculty at Berkeley....
)

Thus classical languages tend to be either dead languages, or show a high degree of diglossia

Diglossia

In linguistics, diglossia is a situation where a given language community uses not just one dialect, but two: the first being the community's present day vernacular and the second being either an ancestral version of the same vernacular from centuries earlier or a distinct yet closely related present day dialect ....
, as the spoken varieties of the language diverge further and further away from the classical written language over centuries.

Classical studies

In a most restricted meaning, in the inherently Eurocentric context of Classical studies, "the Classical Languages" are the Greek and Latin

Classical Latin

Classical Latin is the form of the Latin used by the ancient Rome in what is usually regarded as "classical" Latin literature. Its use spanned the Golden Age of Latin literature—broadly the 1st century BC and the early 1st century AD—possibly extending to the Silver Age—broadly the 1st and 2nd centuries....
 literary languages of Classical Antiquity

Classical antiquity

Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome....
, foundational to Western culture

Western culture

File:Clash of Civilizations map.pngWestern culture are terms which are used to refer to cultures of European origin. This terminology originated as a way of describing what was different about the Graeco-Roman culture and its descendants, in contrast to the older neighboring civilizations of the Middle East, which in many ways continued...
.

In terms of worldwide cultural importance, Edward Sapir

Edward Sapir

Edward Sapir , was a Jewish-Germany-United States anthropologist-linguistics and a leader in American structuralism. He was one of the creators of what is now called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis....
 in (1921) would extend the list by Chinese

Classical Chinese

Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of ancient Chinese, making it different from any Chinese spoken language....
, Arabic

Classical Arabic

Classical Arabic , also known as Qur'anic or Koranic Arabic, is the form of the Arabic language used in literary texts from Umayyad Caliphate and Abbasid Caliphate times ....
 and Sanskrit:

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.

In this sense, a classical language is a language that has 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.

Living languages with a large sphere of influence are known as world language

World language

A world language is a natural language spoken internationally, which is learned by many people as a second language. A world language is not only characterized by the number of its speakers , but also by its geographical distribution, and its use in international organizations and in diplomatic relations....
s.

General Usage

The following languages are generally taken to have a "classical" stage. Such a stage is limited in time, and is considered "classical" if it comes to be regarded as a literary "golden age" retrospectively. Thus, Classical Greek is the language of 5th-century BCE Athens

History of Athens

The History of Athens is one of the longest of any city in Europe and in the world. Athens has been continuously inhabited for over 4,500 years, becoming the leading city of Ancient Greece in the first millennium BC; its cultural achievements during the 5th century BC laid the foundations of western culture....
, and as such only a small subset of the varieties of the Greek language

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 as a whole. A "classical" period usually corresponds to a flowering of literature following an "archaic" period, such as Classical Latin

Classical Latin

Classical Latin is the form of the Latin used by the ancient Rome in what is usually regarded as "classical" Latin literature. Its use spanned the Golden Age of Latin literature—broadly the 1st century BC and the early 1st century AD—possibly extending to the Silver Age—broadly the 1st and 2nd centuries....
 succeeding Old Latin

Old Latin

Old Latin refers to the Latin language in the period before the age of Classical Latin; that is, all Latin before 75 BC. The term prisca Latinitas distinguishes it in New Latin and Contemporary Latin from vetus Latina, in which "old" has another meaning....
, Classical Sumerian

Sumerian language

Sumerian was the language of ancient Sumer, spoken in Southern Mesopotamia since at least the 4th millennium BC. It was gradually replaced by Akkadian language as a spoken language somewhere around the turn of the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC , but continued to be used as a sacred, ceremonial, literary and scientific language in Mesopotamia...
 succeeding Archaic Sumerian, Classical Sanskrit succeeding Vedic Sanskrit

Vedic Sanskrit

Vedic Sanskrit is an Old Indic language. It is the language of the Vedas, the oldest shruti texts of Hinduism, compiled over the period of the mid 2nd to mid 1st millennium BC....
, Classical Persian

Classical Persian

Classical Persian may refer to:*Middle Persian*Persian language#New Persian...
 succeeding Old Persian. This is a partly a matter of terminology, and for example Old Chinese

Old Chinese

Old Chinese , or Archaic Chinese as used by linguist Bernhard Karlgren, refers to the Chinese language spoken from the Shang Dynasty , well into the Former Han Dynasty ....
 is taken to include rather than precede Classical Chinese

Classical Chinese

Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of ancient Chinese, making it different from any Chinese spoken language....
. In some cases, such as those of Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages languages such as Hebrew language and Aramaic language....
,Kannada

Kannada language

Kannada is one of the major Dravidian languages of India, spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas , number roughly 35 million, making it the 27th most spoken language in the world....
, Tamil

Tamil language

Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has Official language in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore....
, the "classical" stage corresponds to the earliest attested literary variant.

Ancient Near East

• Classical Sumerian (literary language of Sumer
  Sumer
  
  Sumer was a civilization and a historical region located in Southern Iraq , known as the Cradle of civilization. It lasted from the first settlement of Eridu in the Ubaid period through the Uruk period and the Dynastic periods until the rise of Babylon in the early 2nd millennium BC....
  , ca. 26th to 23rd c. BCE)
• Middle Egyptian
  Middle Egyptian
  
  Middle Egyptian is the typical form of the Egyptian language spoken from 2000 BC to 1300 BC .Although evolving into Late Egyptian from the 14th century, Middle Egyptian remained in use as literary standard language until the 4th century AD....
   (literary language of Ancient Egypt
  Ancient Egypt
  
  Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
   from ca. the 20th century BCE to the 4th century CE)
• Old Babylonian
  Akkadian language
  
  Akkadian or Assyrian-Babylonian is a Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian language, an unrelated language isolate....
   (The Akkadian language from ca 20th to 16th c. BCE, the imitated standard for later literary works)

Classical Antiquity

• Classical Hebrew
  Biblical Hebrew language
  
  Biblical Hebrew, also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew languages in which the Hebrew Bible and various Israelites inscriptions were written....
   (the language of the Tanakh
  Tanakh
  
  The Tanakh is the Bible used in Judaism. The name "Tanakh" is a Hebrew language Acronym and initialism formed from the initial Hebrew alphabet of the Tanakh's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim - hence TaNaKh....
  , in particular of the prophetic books
  Nevi'im
  
  Nevi'im is the second of the three major sections in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh, between the Torah and Ketuvim .Nevi'im is traditionally divided into two parts:...
   of ca. the 7th and 6th c. BCE)
• Classical Chinese
  Classical Chinese
  
  Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of ancient Chinese, making it different from any Chinese spoken language....
   (based on the literary language of the Zhou Dynasty
  Zhou Dynasty
  
  The Zhou Dynasty was preceded by the Shang Dynasty and followed by the Qin Dynasty in China. The Zhou dynasty lasted longer than any other dynasty in China history?though the actual political and military control of China by the dynasty only lasted during the Western Zhou....
   from ca. the 5th c. BCE)
• Classical Greek (Attic dialect of the 5th c. BCE)
• Classical Sanskrit (defined by Panini's grammar, ca. 4th c. BCE)
• Classical Tamil
  Classical Tamil
  
  Reference to a "Classical" Tamil language may have two unrelated meanings:*in mainstream Dravidology, Classical Tamil is the language of the Sangam literature ....
   (Sangam literature
  Sangam literature
  
  Sangam literature refers to a body of classical Tamil language Tamil literature created between the years 300 BCE and 600 CE. This collection contains 2381 poems written by 473 poets,...
   ca. 1st c. BCE to 4th c. CE)
• Classical Kannada [(Halmidi Sasana of the 1st c. BCE to 1st c. CE)]
• Classical Latin
  Classical Latin
  
  Classical Latin is the form of the Latin used by the ancient Rome in what is usually regarded as "classical" Latin literature. Its use spanned the Golden Age of Latin literature—broadly the 1st century BC and the early 1st century AD—possibly extending to the Silver Age—broadly the 1st and 2nd centuries....
   (literary language of the 1st c. BCE)
• Classical Mandaic (literary Aramaic
  Aramaic language
  
  Aramaic is a Semitic languages with a 3,000-year history. It has been the language of administration of empires and the language of divine worship....
   of Mandaeism
  Mandaeism
  
  Mandaeism or Mandaeanism is a monotheistic religion with a strongly Dualism worldview. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam , Abel, Seth, Enos , Noah, Shem, Aram, son of Shem and especially John the Baptist....
  , 1st c. CE)
• Classical Syriac (literary Aramaic
  Aramaic language
  
  Aramaic is a Semitic languages with a 3,000-year history. It has been the language of administration of empires and the language of divine worship....
   of the Syriac church, 3rd to 5th c.)
• Classical Armenian (oldest attested form of Armenian
  Armenian language
  
  The 'Armenian language' is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenians. It is the official language of the Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh....
   from the 5th c. and literary language until the 18th c.)
• Middle Persian
  Middle Persian
  
  Middle Persian is the Iranian languages language/ethnolect of Southwestern Iran that during Sassanid times became a prestige dialect and so came to be spoken in other regions as well....
   (court language of the Sassanid Empire
  Sassanid Empire
  
  The Sassanid Empire or Sassanian Dynasty is the name of the last pre-Islamic Iranian empire. It was one of the two main powers in Western Asia for a period of more than 400 years....
  , 3rd to 7th c.)

Middle Ages

• Classical Arabic
  Classical Arabic
  
  Classical Arabic , also known as Qur'anic or Koranic Arabic, is the form of the Arabic language used in literary texts from Umayyad Caliphate and Abbasid Caliphate times ....
   (based the language of the Qur'an
  Qur'an
  
  The Qur?an is the central religious text of Islam. Muslims believe the Qur?an to be the book of divine guidance and direction for mankind, and consider the original Arabic text to be the final revelation of God....
  , 7th c.)
• New Persian
  Persian language
  
  name=Persian|nativename=|pronunciation=[f??r'si]|image=|caption=Farsi in Perso-Arabic script |states= Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Bahrain....
   (language of classical Persian literature
  Persian literature
  
  Persian literature spans two and a half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources has been within historical greater Iran including present-day Iran as well as reigions of Central Asia where the Persian language has been the national language through history....
  , 9th to 17th c.)
• Classical Kannada (language of the Rashtrakuta literature
  Rashtrakuta literature
  
  Rashtrakuta literature is the body of work created during the rule of the Rastrakutas of Manyakheta, a dynasty that ruled the southern and central parts of the Deccan, India between the 8th and 10th centuries....
  , 9th c.).
• Classical Japanese
  Classical Japanese language
  
  The is the literary form of the Japanese language that was the standard until the early Showa period. It is based on Late Old Japanese, the language as spoken during the Heian era, but exhibits some later influences....
   (language of Heian period
  Heian period
  
  The is the last division of classical History of Japan, running from 794 to 1185. It is the period in Japanese history when Confucianism and other Chinese culture were at their height....
   literature, 10th to 12th c.)
• Classical Telugu (language of Eastern Chalukya literature from 10th or 11th century CE).
• Classical Icelandic (the language of the Icelandic sagas, 13th c.)
• Classical Gaelic
  Classical Gaelic
  
  Classical Gaelic was the literary form of Scottish Gaelic used in Scotland from the 13th to the 18th century. Ethnologue gives the name "Hiberno-Scottish Gaelic" as a cover term for Classical Gaelic and History of the Irish language#Early Modern Irish....
   (language of the 13th to 18th c. Scottish Gaelic literature)

Early Modern period

• Early Modern English
  Early Modern English
  
  Early Modern English is the stage of the English language used from about the end of the Middle English period to 1650. Thus, the first edition of the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare both belong to the late phase of Early Modern English, although the King James Bible intentionally keeps some archaisms that were not comm...
   (language of KJV Bible and Shakespeare
  William Shakespeare
  
  William Shakespeare was an English people poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist....
  , 16th to 17th c.)
• Classical Ottoman Turkish (language of poetry and administration of the Ottoman empire
  Ottoman Empire
  
  The Ottoman Empire , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299?1923. It was Treaty of Lausanne by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923....
  , 16th to 19th c.)

New World

• Classical Maya (the language of the mature Maya civilization, 3rd to 9th c.)
• Classical Quechua (lingua franca of the 16th c. Inca Empire
  Inca Empire
  
  The Inca Empire was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political and military center of the empire was located in Cuzco in modern-day Peru....
  )
• Classical Nahuatl
  Classical Nahuatl
  
  Classical Nahuatl is a term used to describe the variants of the Nahuatl language that were spoken in the Valley of Mexico — and central Mexico as a lingua franca — at the time of the 16th-century Spanish conquest of Mexico....
   (lingua franca of 16th c. central Mexico
  Mexico
  
  The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
  )
• Classical Quiché
  Classical Quiché
  
  Classical Quich? is the term used to describe an ancestral form of the modern-day K'iche' language , which was spoken in the highland regions of Guatemala around the time of the 16th century Spanish colonization of the Americas....
   (language of 16th c. Guatemala
  Guatemala
  
  Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize and the Caribbean to the northeast, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast....
  )
• Classical Tupi (language of 16th -18th c. Brazil
  Brazil
  
  Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the List of countries by population country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world....
  )

See also

• Classical languages of India
• Classics
  Classics
  
  Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean World; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity ....
  
• Classicism
  Classicism
  
  File:Nicolas Poussin 055.jpgClassicism, in the The Arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seeks to emulate....
  
• Literary language
  Literary language
  
  A literary language is a register of a language that is used in literary writing. This may also include Sacred language. The difference between literary and non-literary forms is more marked in some languages than in others....
  
• Sacred language
  Sacred language
  
  A sacred language, or liturgical language, is a language that is cultivated for religion reasons by people who speak another language in their daily life....
  
• Official language
  Official language
  
  An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other territory. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration....
  
• Standard language
  Standard language
  
  A standard language is a particular variety of a language that has been given either legal or quasi-legal status. As it is usually the form promoted in schools and the media, it is usually considered by speakers of the language to be more "correct" in some sense than other dialects....
  
• World language
  World language
  
  A world language is a natural language spoken internationally, which is learned by many people as a second language. A world language is not only characterized by the number of its speakers , but also by its geographical distribution, and its use in international organizations and in diplomatic relations....
  
• List of languages by first written accounts
  List of languages by first written accounts
  
  This is a list of languages by first written accounts which consists of the approximate dates for the first writing that are known for various languages....