Official Classical Languages In the year 2004, idea of according the status of ‘Classical Language in India’ was floated by the Government of India. According to the Government declaration few criteria were fixed to decide the languages qualifying for this status. As a result Tamil; Sanskrit; and Kannada and Telugu were given the Classical Language status in the year 2004, 2005, 2008 respectively. Sanskrit already enjoyed special status under the Article 351 of the Constitution of India for being the source language for Hindi. In addition, Sanskrit was given the status of classical language in the year 2005. Ministry of Culture, Government of India, constituted a committee of linguistic experts which recommended that Kannada and Telugu to be included in the list of classical language of India which was done in the year 2008. In 2006, Minister of Tourism & Culture, Ms Ambika Soni informed the Rajya Sabha about the criteria which were followed for determining the eligibility of languages to qualify for being considered as a Classical Language. In her words, following were the criteria laid down : High antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over a period of 1500-2000 years; A body of ancient literature/texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers; The literary tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech community; The classical language and literature being distinct from modern, there may also be a discontinuity between the classical language and its later forms or its offshoots. Regional Languages
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 07:27:36 +0000
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