A classical language 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." (George L. Hart)

Note that the judgement of a language as "classical" is a judgement of its literature, not of the language itself. Although languages may change at different rates, languages that change at slower rates are not necessarily the same as languages judged as "classical". Also, since there is no language immune to change, 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.

List of classical languages

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

More on [ Classical language ]

Classical Languages - Twitter Search

Comparing classical and tantric interpretations of Patanjali's sutras- reminds me how much I love learning new languages!
amritalife (Marcia Wilson) Thu, 07 Jan 2010 04:17:18 -0000
Comparing classical and tantric interpretations of Patanjali's sutras- reminds me how much I love learning new languages!
AB Release: South Carolina: Curriculum Standards - Modern and Classical Languages 2006
AcadBenchmarks (Academic Benchmarks) Wed, 06 Jan 2010 02:49:14 -0000
AB Release: South Carolina: Curriculum Standards - Modern and Classical Languages 2006
RT @aboutworldlangs: Did you know? 'The mother of all languages,' #Sanskrit is the dominant classical language of the #Indian subcontine ...
sue_copas (sue copas) Tue, 05 Jan 2010 20:26:06 -0000
RT @aboutworldlangs: Did you know? 'The mother of all languages,' #Sanskrit is the dominant classical language of the #Indian subcontine ...
Did you know? 'The mother of all languages,' #Sanskrit is the dominant classical language of the #Indian subcontinent http://bit.ly/1RoOgm
aboutworldlangs (AboutWorld Langs) Tue, 05 Jan 2010 20:21:36 -0000
Did you know? 'The mother of all languages,' #Sanskrit is the dominant classical language of the #Indian subcontinent http://bit.ly/1RoOgm
Yesudas' voice is exquisite, &he's used it magnificently in various styles (classical, popular, devotional) &languages (esp Malayalam&Hindi)
ShashiTharoor (Shashi Tharoor) Tue, 05 Jan 2010 19:10:30 -0000
Yesudas' voice is exquisite, &he's used it magnificently in various styles (classical, popular, devotional) &languages (esp Malayalam&Hindi)
@Aanaaa thanks. lol. um... linguistics + classical languages for BA and public relations for B of Communication
hvenwthmuffns (Tara) Sat, 02 Jan 2010 03:21:51 -0000
@Aanaaa thanks. lol. um... linguistics + classical languages for BA and public relations for B of Communication

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