November 1 is Classical Language Day

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/november-1-is-classical-language-day/article5225518.ece

Kerala will observe November 1 as Classical Language Day, against the backdrop of Malayalam getting classical status.

Minister for Culture K.C. Joseph told the media here on Friday that the Department of Culture and the Kerala Sahitya Akademi would organise various programmes in all districts in this connection. Special assembly would be held in schools.

The Minister said the government was trying for Central approval for setting up a Central institute of classical language in Thiruvananthapuram. Proposals for starting courses in classical languages in Central universities had also been mooted.

The Kerala Sahitya Akademi would digitise 1,000-old Malayalam books and distribute copies to libraries and other institutions. The Malayalam Mission would be expanded and a separate mission established for translation. The State language institute would publish more books on science and technology to enhance the richness of the language.

He said the government wanted facilities for teaching Malayalam to be introduced in all schools in the State. Currently, about 300 schools in Kasaragod and Munnar did not teach Malayalam.

Thoughts

Reply 1

Good bloke

Original post by navarre

Thoughts

They obviously don't know what "classical" means. Old, yes, ancient even, but classical, no.

Reply 2

navarre

Original post by Good bloke

They obviously don't know what "classical" means. Old, yes, ancient even, but classical, no.

Just because it isn't European? India is a very diverse country, with many ancient languages- and yet, it's own classical tongues.

Reply 3

Darth Stewie

Original post by navarre

Just because it isn't European? India is a very diverse country, with many ancient languages- and yet, it's own classical tongues.

Malayalam is not a classical language even using Indian rules, even by very generous estimates it is only about a thousand years old (and when i say generous i mean generous, at that point is was a dialect and was heavily modified in the next 400 years ago). India's cultural ministry themselves have declared a language must "include an antiquity of texts and recorded history dating back 1,500-2,000 years, and a literary tradition that is both ancient and original" for something to be considered a classical language. Malayalam started of as a dialect of Tamil and didn't separate in any meaningful way until around the 13th century.

Now that Malayalam is considered a classical language so should Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi and pretty much every other major Indian language which will result in the Indian government having to provide extra funding to all these languages and because so many are considered classic the term will become utterly meaningless.

This is why keeping politics away from academia is so important.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 4

Good bloke

Original post by navarre

Just because it isn't European?

No. Just because it isn't ancient Greek or Roman. Anglo-Saxon and Brythonic are European ancient languages but aren't classical.

Reply 5

Arbolus

We normally say that Latin and Greek are the only European classical languages, because no others have had such an enormous cultural and literary influence over the whole continent at every stage in the last two thousand years. There are other languages which are old and influential, but none of them have ever been at the heart of an entire civilization.

If we apply that same standard elsewhere, I would have to say that the only Indian classical languages are Sanskrit and Tamil, the only Middle Eastern classical languages are Persian and Arabic, and the only East Asian classical language is Chinese. If we extend that status to Malayalam then we should also extend it to, among other things, Turkish, Khmer and Tibetan, all of which are much more deserving.