Which one of the following is not among the recently revised criteria for a language to be declared a Classical Language?
(a) The language must have a high antiquity of early texts/recorded history over a period of 1500–2000 years.
(b) It should have a body of ancient literature considered a heritage by its speakers.
(c) It must have a continuous spoken tradition up to the present day.
(d) It should have knowledge texts, especially prose, and inscriptional evidence.

Question

Which one of the following is not among the recently revised criteria for a language to be declared a Classical Language?
(a) The language must have a high antiquity of early texts/recorded history over a period of 1500&ndash;2000 years.
(b) It should have a body of ancient literature considered a heritage by its speakers.
(c) It must have a continuous spoken tradition up to the present day.
(d) It should have knowledge texts, especially prose, and inscriptional evidence.

ONLiNE UPSC · Accepted Answer

Context: Recently, the Union Cabinet approved classical language status to Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Pali, and Prakrit.
The Classical Languages serve as a custodian of Bharat&rsquo;s profound and ancient cultural heritage, embodying the essence of each community&rsquo;s historical and cultural milestone.
The Linguistics Experts Committee (under Sahitya Akademi) in a meeting on 25.07.2024, unanimously revised the criteria as below. Sahitya Akademi has been appointed as nodal agency for the LEC.

	High antiquity of (its) is early texts/recorded history over a period of 1500- 2000 years.
	A body of ancient literature/texts, which is considered a heritage by generations of speakers.
	Knowledge texts, especially prose texts in addition to poetry, epigraphical and inscriptional evidence.
	The Classical Languages and literature could be distinct from its current form or could be discontinuous with later forms of its offshoots.

Notably, a continuous spoken tradition up to the present day is not a requirement for a language to be declared classical.

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M Question 1	⏱ 0
Which one of the following is not among the recently revised criteria for a language to be declared a Classical Language? (a) The language must have a high antiquity of early texts/recorded history over a period of 1500–2000 years. (b) It should have a body of ancient literature considered a heritage by its speakers. (c) It must have a continuous spoken tradition up to the present day. (d) It should have knowledge texts, especially prose, and inscriptional evidence.

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