{{Short description|Language used to facilitate communication between groups without a common native language}} {{Other uses}} {{Distinguish|text=French language}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}} [[File:Linguafranca.jpg|thumb|right|French dictionary printed in 1830 detailing the Mediterranean Lingua Franca ]]
A '''lingua franca''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|l|ɪ|ŋ|ɡ|w|ə|_|ˈ|f|r|æ|ŋ|k|ə}}; {{literal translation|Frankish tongue}}; for plurals see {{section link|#Usage notes}}), also known as a '''bridge language''', '''common language''', '''trade language''', '''auxiliary language''', '''link language''', or '''language of wider communication''' ('''LWC'''), is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups of people who do not share a native language or dialect, particularly when it is a third language that is distinct from both of the speakers' native languages.<ref>Viacheslav A. Chirikba, "The problem of the Caucasian Sprachbund" in Pieter Muysken, ed., ''From Linguistic Areas to Areal Linguistics'', 2008, p. 31. {{ISBN|90-272-3100-1}}</ref>
Lingua francas have developed around the world throughout human history, sometimes for commercial reasons (so-called "trade languages" facilitated trade), but also for cultural, religious, diplomatic and administrative convenience, and as a means of exchanging information between scientists and other scholars of different nationalities.<ref name="Nye">{{cite journal|last1=Nye|first1=Mary Jo|title=Speaking in Tongues: Science's centuries-long hunt for a common language|journal=Distillations|year=2016|volume=2|issue=1|pages=40–43|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/speaking-in-tongues|access-date=20 March 2018|archive-date=3 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803130801/https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/speaking-in-tongues|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Gordin">{{cite book|last1=Gordin|first1=Michael D.|title=Scientific Babel: How Science Was Done Before and After Global English|date=2015|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago, Illinois|isbn=9780226000299}}</ref> The term is taken from the medieval Mediterranean Lingua Franca, a Romance-based pidgin language used especially by traders in the Mediterranean Basin from the 11th to the 19th centuries.<ref>{{Cite book|date=1975|title=Italian-Based Pidgins and Lingua Franca|series=Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications|volume=14|pages=70–72}}</ref> A world language—a language spoken internationally and by many people—is a language that may function as a global lingua franca.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Woll |first1=Bensie |title=English of often considered the de facto global language... |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/culture-online/case-studies/2022/mar/english-often-considered-de-facto-global-language |website=University College London Culture Online |date=22 March 2022 |publisher=University College London |access-date=17 October 2024}}</ref>
==Characteristics== thumb|upright=1.2|Trade languages of the world in 1908 from ''The Harmsworth Atlas and Gazetteer''
Any language regularly used for communication between people who do not share a native language is a lingua franca.<ref>"vehicular, adj." ''OED Online''. Oxford University Press, July 2018. Web. 1 November 2018.</ref> Lingua franca is a functional term, independent of any linguistic history or language structure.<ref>[http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~patrickp/Courses/PCs/IntroPidginsCreoles.htm Intro Sociolinguistics] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522043320/http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~patrickp/Courses/PCs/IntroPidginsCreoles.htm |date=22 May 2018 }} – ''Pidgin and Creole Languages: Origins and Relationships'' – Notes for LG102, – University of Essex, Peter L. Patrick – Week 11, Autumn term.</ref>
Pidgins are therefore lingua francas; creoles and arguably mixed languages may similarly be used for communication between language groups. However, the term ''lingua franca'' is equally applicable to a non-creole language native to one nation, often a colonial power, learned as a second language and used for communication between diverse language communities in a colony or former colony.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=http://www.termcoord.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Lingua_franca.pdf|title=Lingua Franca: Chomera or Reality?|year=2010|publisher=Publ. Office of the Europ. Union |isbn=9789279189876|access-date=15 December 2018|archive-date=27 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227090056/https://termcoord.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Lingua_franca.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
Lingua francas are often pre-existing languages with native speakers, but they can also be pidgins or creoles developed for that specific region or context. Pidgins are rapidly developed and simplified combinations of two or more established languages, while creoles are generally viewed as pidgins that have evolved into fully complex languages in the course of adaptation by subsequent generations.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Pidgin and Creole Languages|last=Romaine|first=Suzanne|publisher=Longman|year=1988}}</ref> Often, pre-existing lingua francas such as French are used to facilitate intercommunication in large-scale trade or political matters, while pidgins and creoles often arise out of colonial situations and a specific need for communication between colonists and indigenous peoples.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thariqalfathih.wordpress.com/2015/04/03/lingua-franca-pidgin-and-creole/|title=Lingua Franca, Pidgin, and Creole|date=3 April 2015|access-date=29 April 2019|archive-date=21 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200821190239/https://thariqalfathih.wordpress.com/2015/04/03/lingua-franca-pidgin-and-creole/|url-status=live}}</ref> Pre-existing lingua francas are generally widespread, highly developed languages with many native speakers.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-12-31 |title=Definition of LINGUA FRANCA |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lingua%20franca |access-date=2025-01-13 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref> Conversely, pidgins are very simplified means of communication, containing loose structuring, few grammatical rules, and possessing few or no native speakers. Creole languages are more developed than their ancestral pidgins, utilizing more complex structure, grammar, and vocabulary, as well as having substantial communities of native speakers.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Language – Pidgins and creoles|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/language|access-date=2021-05-11|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|archive-date=5 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141205091036/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/329791/language/27194/Linguistic-change|url-status=live}}</ref>
Whereas a vernacular language is the native language of a specific geographical community,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of VERNACULAR|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vernacular|access-date=2021-05-11|website=www.merriam-webster.com|language=en|archive-date=15 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515083616/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vernacular|url-status=live}}</ref> a lingua franca is used beyond the boundaries of its original community, for trade, religious, political, or academic reasons.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Dursteler|first=Eric R.|title=Speaking in Tongues: Language and Communication in the Early Modern Mediterranean|date=2012|journal=Past & Present|issue=217|pages=47–77|doi=10.1093/pastj/gts023}}</ref> For example, English is a {{Emphasis|vernacular}} in the United Kingdom but it is used as a {{Emphasis|lingua franca}} in the Philippines, alongside Filipino. Likewise, Arabic, French, Standard Chinese, Russian and Spanish serve similar purposes as industrial and educational lingua francas across regional and national boundaries.
Even though they are used as bridge languages, international auxiliary languages such as Esperanto have not had a great degree of adoption, so they are not described as lingua francas.<ref>{{cite web|last=Directorate-General for Translation|first=European Commission|year=2011|title=Studies on translation and multilingualism|url=http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/language-technologies/docs/lingua-franca-en.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121115090926/http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/language-technologies/docs/lingua-franca-en.pdf|archive-date=2012-11-15|publisher=Europa (web portal)|pages=8, 22–23|quote=Up to now [constructed languages] have all proved transient and none has actually achieved the status of lingua franca with a large community of fluent speakers.}}</ref>
==Etymology== The term ''lingua franca'' derives from Mediterranean Lingua Franca (also known as ''Sabir''), the pidgin language that people around the Levant and the eastern Mediterranean Sea used as the main language of commerce and diplomacy from the late Middle Ages to the 18th century, most notably during the Renaissance era.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/lingua-franca|title=lingua franca {{!}} linguistics|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=8 August 2017|archive-date=31 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731180042/https://www.britannica.com/topic/lingua-franca|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> During that period, a simplified version of mainly Italian in the eastern Mediterranean and Spanish in the western Mediterranean that incorporated many loanwords from Greek, Slavic languages, Arabic, and Turkish came to be widely used as the "lingua franca" of the region, although some scholars claim that the Mediterranean Lingua Franca was just poorly used Italian.<ref name=":4" />
In Lingua Franca (the specific language), {{Lang|pml|lingua}} is from the Italian for 'a language'. {{Lang|pml|Franca}} is related to Greek {{Lang|grc|Φρᾰ́γκοι}} ({{Lang|grc|Phránkoi}}) and Arabic {{Lang|ar|إِفْرَنْجِي}} ({{Lang|ar-Latn|ʾifranjiyy}}) as well as the equivalent Italian—in all three cases, the literal sense is 'Frankish', leading to the direct translation: 'language of the Franks'. During the late Byzantine Empire, ''Franks'' was a term that applied to all Western Europeans.<ref name="HEL">{{cite book |url=http://www.komvos.edu.gr/dictonlineplsql/simple_search.display_full_lemma?the_lemma_id=16800&target_dict=1 |title=''Lexico Triantaphyllide'' online dictionary, Greek Language Center (''Kentro Hellenikes Glossas''), lemma Franc ( Φράγκος ''Phrankos''), ''Lexico tes Neas Hellenikes Glossas'', G.Babiniotes, Kentro Lexikologias(Legicology Center) LTD Publications |publisher=Komvos.edu.gr |year=2002 |isbn=960-86190-1-7 |quote=Franc and (prefix) franco- (Φράγκος ''Phrankos'' and φράγκο- ''phranko-'') |access-date=18 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324054919/http://www.komvos.edu.gr/dictonlineplsql/simple_search.display_full_lemma?the_lemma_id=16800&target_dict=1 |archive-date=24 March 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/etymologicaldict00weekuoft/ |title=An etymological dictionary of modern English : Weekley, Ernest, 1865–1954 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive |access-date=18 June 2015}}</ref><ref>[https://www.scribd.com/doc/14047074/Dictionary-English-Etymology-Origins-A-Short-Etymological-Dictionary-of-Modern-English-Rouledge-1958-Parridge] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012185830/http://www.scribd.com/doc/14047074/Dictionary-English-Etymology-Origins-A-Short-Etymological-Dictionary-of-Modern-English-Rouledge-1958-Parridge|date=12 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=House|first=Juliane|date=2003|title=English as a lingua franca: A threat to multilingualism?|journal=Journal of Sociolinguistics|language=en|volume=7|issue=4|pages=557|doi=10.1111/j.1467-9841.2003.00242.x|issn=1467-9841|doi-access=free}}</ref>
Through changes of the term in literature, ''lingua franca'' has come to be interpreted as a general term for pidgins, creoles, and some or all forms of vehicular languages. This transition in meaning has been attributed to the idea that pidgin languages only became widely known from the 16th century on due to European colonization of continents such as The Americas, Africa, and Asia. During this time, the need for a term to address these pidgin languages arose, hence the shift in the meaning of Lingua Franca from a single proper noun to a common noun encompassing a large class of pidgin languages.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Brosch|first=C.|date=2015|title=On the Conceptual History of the Term Lingua Franca|journal= Apples: Journal of Applied Language Studies|volume=9|issue=1|pages=71–85|doi=10.17011/apples/2015090104|doi-access=free}}</ref>
As recently as the late 20th century, some restricted the use of the generic term to mean only mixed languages that are used as vehicular languages, its original meaning.<ref>Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, Simon and Schuster, 1980</ref>
Douglas Harper's ''Online Etymology Dictionary'' states that the term ''Lingua Franca'' (as the name of the particular language) was first recorded in English during the 1670s,<ref name="Harper">{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=lingua+franca |title=Online Etymology Dictionary |publisher=Etymonline.com |access-date=18 June 2015 |archive-date=11 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150511041942/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=lingua+franca |url-status=live }}</ref> although an even earlier example of the use of it in English is attested from 1632, where it is also referred to as "Bastard Spanish".<ref name="Morgan">{{cite book |last=Morgan |first=J. |year=1632 |title=A Compleat History of the Present Seat of War in Africa, Between the Spaniards and Algerines |page=98 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6M8TAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA98 |access-date=8 June 2013 |archive-date=17 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017152407/https://books.google.com/books?id=6M8TAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA98 |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Usage notes== The term is well established in its naturalization to English, so major dictionaries do not italicize it as a "foreign" term.<ref name="OxfordDictionaries">{{Citation |author=Oxford Dictionaries |author-link=OxfordDictionaries.com |title=Oxford Dictionaries Online |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010516042450/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 May 2001 |postscript=.}}</ref><ref name="AHD">{{Citation |author=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |title=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |url=https://ahdictionary.com/ |postscript=. |access-date=25 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925104737/https://ahdictionary.com/ |archive-date=25 September 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="MW_Collegiate">{{Citation |author=Merriam-Webster |author-link=Merriam-Webster |title=MerriamWebster's Collegiate Dictionary |publisher=Merriam-Webster |url=http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/collegiate/ |postscript=. |access-date=25 February 2018 |archive-date=10 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201010163505/https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/subscriber/login?redirect_to=%2Fcollegiate%2F |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Its plurals in English are ''lingua francas'' and ''linguae francae'',<ref name="AHD" /><ref name="MW_Collegiate" /> with the former being the first<ref name="AHD" /><ref name="MW_Collegiate" /> or only<ref name="OxfordDictionaries" /> form listed in major dictionaries, while the latter is rarely used.
==Examples== {{Main|List of lingua francas}}
===Historical lingua francas=== [[File:Ephesians 2,12 - Greek atheos.jpg|thumb|Koine Greek]]
The use of lingua francas has existed since antiquity.
Akkadian remained the common language of a large part of Western Asia from several earlier empires, until it was supplanted in this role by Aramaic.<ref>Ostler, 2005 pp. 38–40</ref><ref>Ostler, 2010 pp. 163–167</ref>
Sanskrit historically served as a lingua franca throughout the majority of South Asia.<ref>The Last Lingua Franca: English Until the Return of Babel. Nicholas Ostler. Ch.7. {{ISBN|978-0802717719}}</ref><ref>A Dictionary of Buddhism p.350 {{ISBN|0191579173}}</ref><ref>Before the European Challenge: The Great Civilizations of Asia and the Middle East p.180 {{ISBN|0791401685}}</ref> The Sanskrit language's historic presence is attested across a wide geography beyond South Asia. Inscriptions and literary evidence suggest that Sanskrit was already being adopted in Southeast Asia and Central Asia in the 1st millennium CE, through monks, religious pilgrims and merchants.<ref>{{cite book|author=Sheldon Pollock|editor=Jan E. M. Houben|title=Ideology and Status of Sanskrit|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_eqr833q9qYC|year=1996|publisher=BRILL Academic|isbn=978-90-04-10613-0|pages=197–223 with footnotes|access-date=19 March 2022|archive-date=17 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017152353/https://books.google.com/books?id=_eqr833q9qYC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=William S.-Y. Wang|author-link1=William S-Y. Wang|author2=Chaofen Sun|title=The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YqT4BQAAQBAJ|year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-985633-6|pages=6–19, 203–212, 236–245|access-date=19 March 2022|archive-date=17 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017152357/https://books.google.com/books?id=YqT4BQAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Burrow |first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Burrow |title=The Sanskrit Language |year=1973 |edition=3rd, revised |location=London |publisher=Faber & Faber |pages=63–66}}</ref>
Until the early 20th century, Literary Chinese served as both the written lingua franca and the diplomatic language in East Asia, including China, Korea, Japan, Ryūkyū, and Vietnam.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-04-28 |title=Reclaiming a Common Language {{!}} BU Today |url=https://www.bu.edu/articles/2015/reclaiming-a-common-language/ |access-date=2023-07-23 |website=Boston University |language=en}}</ref> In the early 20th century, vernacular written Chinese replaced Classical Chinese within China as both the written and spoken lingua franca for speakers of different Chinese dialects, and because of the declining power and cultural influence of China in East Asia, English has since replaced Classical Chinese as the lingua franca in East Asia.
Koine Greek was the lingua franca of the Hellenistic culture. Koine Greek<ref name=collins>{{cite Collins Dictionary|Koine|access-date=2014-09-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite Dictionary.com|Koine}}</ref><ref name="mw">{{cite Merriam-Webster|Koine}}</ref> (Modern {{langx|el|Ελληνιστική Κοινή|Ellinistikí Kiní|Common Greek}}; {{IPA|el|elinistiˈci ciˈni|lang}}), also known as Alexandrian dialect, common Attic, Hellenistic, or Biblical Greek, was the common supra-regional form of Greek spoken and written during the Hellenistic period, the Roman Empire and the early Byzantine Empire. It evolved from the spread of Greek following the conquests of Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC, and served as the lingua franca of much of the Mediterranean region and the Middle East during the following centuries.<ref name="Bubenik">{{cite book|last=Bubenik|first=V.|year=2007|chapter=The rise of Koiné|editor=A. F. Christidis|title=A history of Ancient Greek: from the beginnings to late antiquity|location=Cambridge|publisher=University Press|pages=342–345}}</ref>
Latin, through the power of the Roman Republic, became the dominant language in Italy and subsequently throughout the realms of the Roman Empire. Even after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, Latin was the common language of communication, science, and academia in Europe until well into the 18th century, when other regional vernaculars (including its own descendants, the Romance languages) supplanted it in common academic and political usage, and it eventually became a dead language in the modern linguistic definition.
Old Tamil was once the lingua franca for most of ancient Tamilakam and Sri Lanka. John Guy states that Tamil was also the lingua franca for early maritime traders from India.<ref name="scroll.in">{{citation |title=Scroll.in – News. Politics. Culture. |date=6 February 2015 |url=http://scroll.in/article/704603/Step-aside%2C-Gujaratis%3A-Tamilians-were-India%27s-earliest-recorded-maritime-traders |access-date=29 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150208095602/http://scroll.in/article/704603/Step-aside%2C-Gujaratis%3A-Tamilians-were-India%27s-earliest-recorded-maritime-traders |archive-date=8 February 2015 |url-status=live |publisher=scroll.in}}</ref> The language and its dialects were used widely in the state of Kerala as the major language of administration, literature and common usage until the 12th century CE.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Murthy |first1=Srinivasa |title=Essays on Indian History and culture: Felicitation volume in Honour of Professor B. Sheik Ali |pages=85–106 |year=1990 |place=New Delhi |publisher=Mittal |isbn=978-81-7099-211-0 |last2=Rao |first2=Surendra |last3=Veluthat |first3=Kesavan |last4=Bari |first4=S.A.}}</ref>
Classical Māori is the retrospective name for the language (formed out of many dialects, albeit all mutually intelligible)<ref name="History of the Māori language">{{Cite web |title=History of the Māori language |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/maori-language-week/history-of-the-maori-language |access-date=2023-09-12 |website=nzhistory.govt.nz |language=en}}</ref> of both the North Island and the South Island for the 800 years before the European settlement of New Zealand.<ref>''Ko Aotearoa Tēnei, Te Taumata Tuarua - Wai 262'' (2011), Waitangi Tribunal, pp. 41</ref><ref>Preservation of Classical Maori', from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A.H. McLintock. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand URL: <nowiki>http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/1966/maori-language/page-10</nowiki> (accessed 16 Mar 2024)</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Belich |first=Jamie |title=Making Peoples: A History of New Zealanders |date=1996 |publisher=Penguin Books New Zealand |isbn=9781742288222 |edition=1st |location=Auckland |publication-date=1996 |pages=57, 67 |language=English}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=New Zealand literature - Modern Maori, Poetry, Novels {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/New-Zealand-literature/Modern-Maori-literature |access-date=2024-03-15 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>''High or Classical Māori:'' Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 36, Number 21. 5 September 1973</ref> Māori shared a common language that was used for trade, inter-iwi dialogue on marae, and education through wānanga.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/economic-history/page-2|title=Early Māori economies | Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand|website=teara.govt.nz}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Brar |first=Atarjit |title=LibGuides: The Polynesian expansion across the Pacific: Maori |url=https://libguides.stalbanssc.vic.edu.au/polynesian-expansion/maori |access-date=2023-09-12 |website=libguides.stalbanssc.vic.edu.au |language=en}}</ref> After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, Māori language was the lingua franca of the Colony of New Zealand until English superseded it in the 1870s.<ref name="History of the Māori language"/><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=The Post |url=https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/350124740/ok-monolingual-boomer-you-might-be-having-your-final-moment-sun#:~:text=At%20the%20advent%20of%20colonisation,language%20of%20trade%20and%20education. |access-date=2024-03-15 |website=www.thepost.co.nz}}</ref> The description of Māori language as New Zealand's 19th-century lingua franca has been widely accepted.<ref>Benton, Richard A. "Changes in Language Use in a Rural Maori Community 1963-1978." ''The Journal of the Polynesian Society'', vol. 89, no. 4, 1980, pp. 455–78. ''JSTOR'', <nowiki>http://www.jstor.org/stable/20705517</nowiki>. Accessed 15 Mar. 2024.</ref><ref name=":7"/><ref name="auto">{{Cite web |last=Coffey |first=Clare |title=Demand For Māori Language Skills at Work Rises in New Zealand |url=https://lightcast.io/resources/blog/demand-for-maori-language-skills-at-work-rises-in-new-zealand |access-date=2024-03-15 |website=Lightcast |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Revitalizing Endangered Languages |url=https://www.iar-gwu.org/blog/vsba8c5mqrhvufzl4gjfmqz39e20x0 |access-date=2024-03-15 |website=THE INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS REVIEW |language=en-US}}</ref> The language was initially vital for all European and Chinese migrants in New Zealand to learn,<ref name="Revitalizing Endangered Languages">{{Cite web |title=Revitalizing Endangered Languages |url=https://www.iar-gwu.org/blog/vsba8c5mqrhvufzl4gjfmqz39e20x0 |access-date=2023-09-12 |website=THE INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS REVIEW |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="auto"/><ref name=":7"/> as Māori formed a majority of the population, owned nearly all the country's land and dominated the economy until the 1860s.<ref name="Revitalizing Endangered Languages"/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Keane |first=Basil |date=11 March 2020 |title=Te Māori i te ohanga – Māori in the economy - Māori enterprise, 1840 to 1860 |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/te-maori-i-te-ohanga-maori-in-the-economy/page-3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240315040836/https://teara.govt.nz/en/te-maori-i-te-ohanga-maori-in-the-economy/page-3 |archive-date=15 March 2024 |access-date=19 November 2024 |website=Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand}}</ref> Discriminatory laws such as the Native Schools Act 1867 contributed to the demise of Māori language as a lingua franca.<ref name="History of the Māori language"/> In earlier contact eras, Māori was also among the bases for Maritime Polynesian Pidgin for use between European voyagers and trading Polynesians as a whole.<ref>{{cite book|pages=7-17 |title=Language contact in the early colonial Pacific: Maritime Polynesian Pidgin before Pidgin English |first=Emanuel J.|last=Drechsel|year=2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=9781139057561 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/language-contact-in-the-early-colonial-pacific/9E4DA477392ABDA61F4C0CA7D3812FFF}}</ref>
Sogdian was used to facilitate trade between those who spoke different languages along the Silk Road, which is why native speakers of Sogdian were employed as translators in Tang China.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lung|first=Rachel|title=Interpreters in Early Imperial China|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company|year=2011|isbn=9789027284181|pages=151–154}}</ref> The Sogdians also ended up circulating spiritual beliefs and texts, including those of Buddhism and Christianity, thanks to their ability to communicate to many people in the region through their native language.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Who Were the Sogdians, {{!}} The Sogdians|url=https://sogdians.si.edu/introduction/|access-date=2021-05-10|website=sogdians.si.edu|archive-date=11 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911220242/https://sogdians.si.edu/introduction/|url-status=live}}</ref>
Old Church Slavonic, an Eastern South Slavic language, is the first Slavic literary language. Between 9th and 11th century, it was the lingua franca of a great part of the predominantly Slavic states and populations in Southeast and Eastern Europe, in liturgy and church organization, culture, literature, education and diplomacy, as an Official language and National language in the case of Bulgaria. It was the first national and also international Slavic literary language (autonym {{lang|cu|словѣ́ньскъ ѩꙁꙑ́къ}}, {{lang|cu-Latn|slověnĭskŭ językŭ}}).<ref name="lpd">{{citation|last= Wells|first= John C.|year= 2008|title= Longman Pronunciation Dictionary|edition= 3rd|publisher= Longman|isbn= 9781405881180}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last= Jones |first= Daniel |author-link= Daniel Jones (phonetician) |title= English Pronouncing Dictionary |editor= Peter Roach |editor2= James Hartmann |editor3= Jane Setter |place= Cambridge |publisher= Cambridge University Press |orig-year= 1917 |year= 2003 |isbn= 978-3-12-539683-8 }}</ref> The Glagolitic alphabet was originally used at both schools, though the Cyrillic script was developed early on at the Preslav Literary School, where it superseded Glagolitic as the official script in Bulgaria in 893. Old Church Slavonic spread to other South-Eastern, Central, and Eastern European Slavic territories, most notably Croatia, Serbia, Bohemia, Lesser Poland, and principalities of the Kievan Rus' while retaining characteristically South Slavic linguistic features. It spread also to not completely Slavic territories between the Carpathian Mountains, the Danube and the Black Sea, corresponding to Wallachia and Moldavia. Nowadays, the Cyrillic writing system is used for various languages across Eurasia, and as the national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeast Europe, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central, North, and East Asia.
The Polish language was a lingua franca,<ref name="BRILL">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yRz0DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA25|title=Multilingual Europe, Multilingual Europeans|date=1 January 2012|publisher=BRILL|access-date=28 November 2018|isbn=978-94-012-0803-1|pages=25|editor1-first=László|editor1-last=Marácz|editor2-first=Mireille|editor2-last=Rosello|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="Koyama 2007 137–153">{{cite book |last=Koyama |first=Satoshi |url=http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/coe21/publish/no15_ses/contents.html |title=Regions in Central and Eastern Europe: Past and Present |publisher=Slavic Research Center, Hokkaido University |year=2007 |isbn=978-4-938637-43-9 |editor1-last=Hayashi |editor1-first=Tadayuki |pages=137–153 |chapter=Chapter 8: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as a Political Space: Its Unity and Complexity |access-date=23 May 2019 |editor2-last=Fukuda |editor2-first=Hiroshi |chapter-url=http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/coe21/publish/no15_ses/08_koyama.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200225015447/http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/coe21/publish/no15_ses/contents.html |archive-date=25 February 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> important both diplomatically and academically in Central and part of Eastern Europe. Tomasz Kamusella notes that "Polish is the oldest, non-ecclesiastical, written Slavic language with a continuous tradition of literacy and official use, which has lasted unbroken from the 16th century to this day."<ref>{{cite book |last= Kamusella |first= Tomasz |year= 2009 |title= The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe |publisher= Palgrave Macmillan |page=138 |isbn= 978-0-230-55070-4 }}</ref> Polish evolved into the main sociolect of the nobles in Poland–Lithuania in the 15th century.{{sfn|Kamusella|2009|page=111}} The history of Polish as a language of state governance begins in the 16th century in the Kingdom of Poland. Over the later centuries, Polish served as the official language in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Congress Poland, the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, and as the administrative language in the Russian Empire's Western Krai. The growth of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth's influence gave Polish the status of ''lingua franca'' in Central and Eastern Europe.{{sfn|Kamusella|2009|page=137}}
The Mediterranean Lingua Franca was largely based on Northern Italy's languages and secondarily on Occitano-Romance languages. This language was spoken from the 11th to 19th centuries around the Mediterranean basin, particularly in the European commercial empires of Italian cities (Genoa, Venice, Florence, Milan, Pisa, Siena) and in trading ports located throughout the eastern Mediterranean rim.<ref>Henry Romanos Kahane. ''The Lingua Franca in the Levant'' (Turkish Nautical Terms of Italian and Greek Origin)</ref>
During the Renaissance, standard Italian was spoken as a language of culture in the main royal courts of Europe, and among intellectuals.{{citation needed|reason=None of the cited references verify this claim|date=May 2026}} Italian musical terms, in particular dynamic and tempo notations, have continued in use to the present day.<ref name=":6">{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15040264|title=Italian: The Language That Sings|website=NPR|access-date=21 February 2019|archive-date=17 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017152355/https://www.npr.org/2007/10/08/15040264/italian-the-language-that-sings|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{cite web |url=https://www.ivirtuosidelloperadiroma.com/en/why-italian-is-the-language-of-music-and-opera/ |title=Why Italian is the language of music and opera |website=I Virtuosi dell'Opera Di Roma |date=4 January 2022 |access-date=10 January 2023}}</ref>thumb|Extent of Middle Low German in red with its use as a literary language black lines tilted right Low German, also known as Low Saxon, used to be the Lingua franca during the late Hohenstaufen till the mid-15th century periods (Middle Low German), in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea when extensive trading was done by the Hanseatic League along the Baltic and North Seas.
Classical Quechua is either of two historical forms of Quechua, the exact relationship and degree of closeness between which is controversial, and which have sometimes been identified with each other.<ref>See Itier (2000: 47) for the distinction between the first and second enumerated senses, and the quote below for their partial identification.</ref> These are:
# the variety of Quechua that was used as a lingua franca and administrative language in the Inca Empire (1438–1533)<ref name="snow, stark1971">Snow, Charles T., Louisa Rowell Stark. 1971. Ancash Quechua: A Pedagogical Grammar. P.V 'The Quechua language is generally associated with the "classical" Quechua of the Cuzco area, which was used as a lingua franca through Peru and Bolivia with the spread of the Inca Empire'</ref> (or Inca lingua franca<ref>Following the terminology of Durston 2007: 40</ref>). Since the Incas did not have writing, the evidence about the characteristics of this variety is scant and they have been a subject of significant disagreements.<ref>Durston 2007: 40, 322</ref> # the variety of Quechua that was used in writing for religious and administrative purposes in the Andean territories of the Spanish Empire, mostly in the late 16th century and the first half of the 17th century and has sometimes been referred to, both historically and in academia, as ''lengua general'' ('common language')<ref>Beyersdorff, Margot, Sabine Dedenbach-Salazar Sáenz. 1994. Andean Oral Traditions: Discourse and Literature. P.275. 'the primarily catechetical domain of this lingua franca – sometimes referred to as "classical" Quechua'...</ref><ref>Bills, Garland D., Bernardo Valejo. 1969. P. XV. 'Immediately following the Spanish Conquest the Quechua language, especially the prestigious "classical" Quechua of the Cuzco area, was used as a lingua franca throughout the Andean region by both missionaries and administrators.'</ref><ref>Cf. also Durston (2007: 17): 'The 1550–1650 period can be considered both formative and classical in relation to the late colonial and republican production'.</ref><ref>See e.g. Taylor 1975: 7–8 for the dating and the name ''lengua general'' and Adelaar 2007: 183 for the dating</ref> (or Standard Colonial Quechua<ref>Following the terminology of Durston (2007: 40)</ref>).
Ajem-Turkic functioned as lingua franca in the Caucasus region and in southeastern Dagestan, and was widely spoken at the court and in the army of Safavid Iran.<ref>{{cite book|pages=248–261|chapter=14|title=The Turkic Languages|author1=Lars Johanson|author2=Éva Á. Castó|year=1998|publisher=Routledge}}</ref>
===Modern=== {{See also|Official languages of the United Nations}}
====English==== {{Main|English as a lingua franca}} thumb|upright=1.5|English language distribution {{legend|#346699|Majority native language}} {{legend|#99ccff|Official or administrative language, but not native language}}
English is sometimes described as the foremost global lingua franca, being used as a working language by individuals of diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds in a variety of fields and international organizations to communicate with one another.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|date=2017-04-25|title=The Linguistic Colonialism of English|url=https://brownpoliticalreview.org/2017/04/linguistic-colonialism-english/|access-date=2021-04-24|website=Brown Political Review|language=en-US|archive-date=24 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210424084057/https://brownpoliticalreview.org/2017/04/linguistic-colonialism-english/|url-status=live}}</ref> English is the most spoken language in the world, primarily due to the historical global influence of the British Empire as well as the United States.<ref>{{e22|eng|English}}</ref> It is a co-official language of the United Nations and many other international and regional organizations and has also become the ''de facto'' language of diplomacy, science, international trade, tourism, aviation, entertainment and the Internet.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/18/books/review/the-rise-of-english-rosemary-salomone.html|title=How the English Language Conquered the World|last=Chua|first=Amy|website=The New York Times|date=18 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301222132/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/18/books/review/the-rise-of-english-rosemary-salomone.html|archive-date=1 March 2022|url-status=live}}</ref>
When the United Kingdom became a colonial power, English served as the lingua franca of the colonies of the British Empire. In the post-colonial period, most of the newly independent nations which had many indigenous languages opted to continue using English as one of their official languages such as Ghana and South Africa.<ref name=":3" /> In other former colonies with several official languages such as Singapore and Fiji, English is the primary medium of education and serves as the lingua franca among citizens.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tan|first=Jason|date=1997|title=Education and Colonial Transition in Singapore and Hong Kong: Comparisons and Contrasts|journal=Comparative Education|volume=33|issue=2|pages=303–312|doi=10.1080/03050069728587}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | chapter-url=https://ewave-atlas.org/languages/68 | title=The Electronic World Atlas of Varieties of English | chapter=Pure Fiji English (Basilectal FijiE) | year=2020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://fijiluxuryvacation.com/everyone-speak-english-in-fiji/ |title=Why Does Everyone Speak English in Fiji? |work=Raiwasa Private Resort |url-status=dead |access-date=5 December 2023 |date=26 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827143620/https://fijiluxuryvacation.com/everyone-speak-english-in-fiji/ |archive-date=2022-08-27 }}</ref>
Even in countries not associated with the English-speaking world, English has emerged as a lingua franca in certain situations where its use is perceived to be more efficient to communicate, especially among groups consisting of native speakers of many languages. In Qatar, the medical community is primarily made up of workers from countries without English as a native language. In medical practices and hospitals, nurses typically communicate with other professionals in English as a lingua franca.<ref name="melf">{{cite web|url=http://bild-lida.ca/journal/volume_2_1_2018/tweedie_johnson/|title=Listening instruction and patient safety: Exploring medical English as a lingua franca (MELF) for nursing education|first1=Gregory|last1=Tweedie|first2=Robert|last2=Johnson|access-date=6 January 2018|archive-date=3 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803074912/http://bild-lida.ca/journal/volume_2_1_2018/tweedie_johnson/|url-status=live}}</ref> This occurrence has led to interest in researching the consequences of the medical community communicating in a lingua franca.<ref name="melf"/> English is also sometimes used in Switzerland between people who do not share one of Switzerland's four official languages, or with foreigners who are not fluent in the local language.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/english-as-a-common-language-in-switzerland--a-positive-or-a-problem-/46494332 |first=Thomas |last=Stephens |access-date=4 December 2023 |title=English as a common language in Switzerland: a positive or a problem? |date=4 April 2021 }}</ref> In the European Union, the use of English as a lingua franca has led researchers to investigate whether a Euro English dialect has emerged.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mollin|first1=Sandra|title=Euro-English assessing variety status|date=2005|publisher=Narr|location=Tübingen|isbn=382336250X}}</ref> In the fields of technology and science, English emerged as a lingua franca in the 20th century.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1109/MC.2017.3001253 |title=The Lingua Franca of Technology |year=2017 |last1=Alan Grier |first1=David |journal=Computer |volume=50 |issue=8 |page=104 |bibcode=2017Compr..50h.104G }}</ref> English has also significantly influenced many other languages.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mikanowski |first=Jacob |date=2018-07-27 |title=Behemoth, bully, thief: how the English language is taking over the planet |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/jul/27/english-language-global-dominance |access-date=2024-12-15 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
====Spanish==== {{Main|Hispanophone}} thumb|upright=1.5|Spanish language distribution {{legend|#045a8d|Official language}} {{legend|#0674b6|Co-official language}} {{legend|#9bbae1|Culturally important or secondary language (> 20% of the population)}}
The Spanish language spread mainly throughout the New World, becoming a lingua franca in the territories and colonies of the Spanish Empire, which also included parts of Africa, Asia, and Oceania. After the breakup of much of the empire in the Americas, its function as a lingua franca was solidified by the governments of the newly independent nations of what is now Hispanic America.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Stavans |first1=Ilan |title=The Spanish Language in Latin America since Independence |url=https://oxfordre.com/latinamericanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.001.0001/acrefore-9780199366439-e-371 |website=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History |access-date=2 June 2021 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.013.371 |date=2017-04-26|isbn=978-0-19-936643-9 }}</ref> While its usage in Spain's Asia-Pacific colonies has largely died out, Spanish became the lingua franca of what is now Equatorial Guinea, being the main language of government and education and is spoken by the vast majority of the population.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Granda|first=Germán de|title=El Español en Tres Mundos: Retenciones y Contactos Lingüísticos en América y África|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pasdAQAAIAAJ|date=1 January 1991|publisher=Universidad de Valladolid, Secretariado de Publicaciones|isbn=9788477622062|language=es}}</ref>
Due to large numbers of immigrants from Latin America in the second half of the 20th century and resulting influence, Spanish has also emerged somewhat as a lingua franca in parts of the Southwestern United States and southern Florida, especially in communities where native Spanish speakers form the majority of the population.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Macías|first=Reynaldo|date=2014|title=Spanish as the Second National Language of the United States: Fact, Future, Fiction, or Hope?|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43284061|journal=Review of Research in Education|volume=38|pages=33–57|doi=10.3102/0091732X13506544 |jstor=43284061 |s2cid=143648085 |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Lynch|first=Andrew|date=2023|title=Heritage language socialization at work: Spanish in Miami|journal=Journal of World Languages|volume=9|issue=1|pages=111–132 |doi=10.1515/jwl-2022-0048 |s2cid=255570955 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
At present it is the second most used language in international trade, and the third most used in politics, diplomacy and culture after English and French.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20221017152438/http://www.quadernsdigitals.net/index.php?accionMenu=secciones.VisualizaArticuloSeccionIU.visualiza&proyecto_id=361&articuloSeccion_id=4463 "¿Por qué los brasileños deben aprender español?"]}} – Copyright 2003 Quaderns Digitals Todos los derechos reservados ISSN 1575-9393.</ref>
It is also one of the most taught foreign languages throughout the world<ref>[https://www.languagemagazine.com/2019/11/18/spanish-in-the-world/ Spanish in the World] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206042553/https://www.languagemagazine.com/2019/11/18/spanish-in-the-world/ |date=6 February 2021}}, ''Language Magazine'', 18 November 2019.</ref> and is also one of the six official languages of the United Nations.
====French==== {{Main|Francophonie}} thumb|upright=1.5|French language distribution {{legend|#0049a2|Majority native language}} {{legend|#006aFF|Official language, but not a majority native language}} {{legend|#8ec3ff|Administrative or cultural language}}
French is sometimes regarded as the first global lingua franca, having supplanted Latin as the prestige language of politics, trade, education, diplomacy, and military in early modern Europe and later spreading around the world with the establishment of the French colonial empire.<ref name="Wright">{{cite journal|last=Wright|first=Sue|date=2006|title=French as a lingua franca|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/annual-review-of-applied-linguistics/article/abs/french-as-a-lingua-franca/709F93AD0A5A7E7162C6E170FCA59E43|journal=Annual Review of Applied Linguistics|volume=26|pages=35–60|doi=10.1017/S0267190506000031|url-access=subscription}}</ref> With France emerging as the leading political, economic, and cultural power of Europe in the mid-17th century, the language was adopted by royal courts throughout the continent, including the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Russia, and as the language of communication between European academics, merchants, and diplomats.<ref>{{cite book |title=When The World Spoke French |author=Marc Fumaroli |translator=Richard Howard |year=2011 |publisher=New York Review of Books |isbn=978-1590173756 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/whenworldspokefr00fuma }}</ref> With the expansion of Western colonial empires, French became the main language of diplomacy and international relations up until World War II when it was replaced by English due to the rise of the United States as the leading superpower. Stanley Meisler of the ''Los Angeles Times'' said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language.<ref>{{cite news|last=Meisler|first=Stanley|title=Seduction Still Works : French—a Language in Decline|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=1 March 1986|access-date=18 October 2021|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-03-01-mn-13048-story.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702203738/http://articles.latimes.com/1986-03-01/news/mn-13048_1_french-language/2|archive-date=2 July 2015}}</ref> Nevertheless, it remains the second most used language in international affairs and is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.<ref name="andaman.org">[http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/reprints/weber/rep-weber.htm The World's 10 Most Influential Languages] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080312042140/http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/reprints/weber/rep-weber.htm |date=12 March 2008 }} ''Top Languages''. Retrieved 11 April 2011.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pya2KY8upAUC&pg=PA2 |title=The French Language Today: A Linguistic Introduction |last1=Battye |first1=Adrian |last2=Hintze |first2=Marie-Anne |last3=Rowlett |first3=Paul |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2003 |language=en |isbn=978-0-203-41796-6 |access-date=19 March 2022 |archive-date=17 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017152354/https://books.google.com/books?id=pya2KY8upAUC&pg=PA2 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[https://ask.un.org/faq/14463?_gl=1*17fvpf2*_ga*NjYyMTgyNjE4LjE3MTM2NDc0OTQ.*_ga_TK9BQL5X7Z*MTcxMzY0NzQ5My4xLjEuMTcxMzY0NzkxMy4wLjAuMA.. What are the official languages of the United Nations?], ''Ask UN'', 23 December 2023.</ref>
As a legacy of French and Belgian colonial rule, most former colonies of these countries maintain French as an official language or lingua franca due to the many indigenous languages spoken in their territory. Notably, in most Francophone West and Central African countries, French has transitioned from being only a lingua franca to the native language among some communities, mostly in urban areas or among the elite class.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2019-04-07|title=Why the future of French is African|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47790128|access-date=2021-04-24|archive-date=11 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411215818/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47790128|url-status=live}}</ref> In other regions such as the French-speaking countries of the Maghreb (Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Mauritania) and parts of the French Caribbean, French is the lingua franca in professional sectors and education, even though it is not the native language of the majority.<ref name="Maamri1013">Maamri, Malika Rebai. "[http://openaccesslibrary.org/images/Malika_Rebai_Maamri.pdf The Syndrome of the French Language in Algeria]." ([https://web.archive.org/web/20151123121428/http://openaccesslibrary.org/images/Malika_Rebai_Maamri.pdf Archive]) ''International Journal of Arts and Sciences''. 3(3): 77 – 89 (2009) CD-ROM. {{ISSN|1944-6934}} p. 10 of 13</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Stevens |first=Paul |title=Modernism and Authenticity as Reflected in Language Attitudes : The Case of Tunisia |publisher=Civilisations |volume=30 |issue=1/2 |year=1980 |pages=37–59 |jstor=41802986 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/41802986 }}</ref><ref>Felicien, Marie Michelle. [https://globalpressjournal.com/americas/haiti/schools-teaching-creole-instead-french-rise-haiti/ Schools Teaching in Creole Instead of French on the Rise in Haiti], ''Global Press Journal'', 13 November 2019</ref>
French continues to be used as a lingua franca in certain cultural fields such as cuisine, fashion, and sport.<ref>Notaker, Henry. [https://lithub.com/how-french-cuisine-took-over-the-world/ How French Cuisine Took Over the World], excerpt from ''A History of Cookbooks From Kitchen to Page over Seven Centuries'', University of California Press, 13 September 2017.</ref><ref name="Wright" />
As a consequence of Brexit, French has been increasingly used as a lingua franca in the European Union and its institutions either alongside or, at times, in place of English.<ref>Chazan, Guy and Jim Brunsden. [https://www.ft.com/content/e70b5042-3c65-11e6-8716-a4a71e8140b0 Push to bid adieu to English as EU's lingua franca], ''Financial Times'', 28 June 2016.</ref><ref>Rankin, Jennifer. [https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/may/05/brexit-english-is-losing-its-importance-in-europe-says-juncker Brexit: English is losing its importance in Europe, says Juncker], ''The Guardian'', 5 May 2017.</ref>
====German==== {{Main|DACH}} thumb|right|230x230px|Legal statuses of German in Europe: {{legend|#ffcc00|(co-)official language and first language of the majority}} {{legend|#d98575|co-official, but not the first language of the majority}} {{legend|#7373d9|legally recognized minority language}} {{legend|#30efe3|sizable minority, without legal recognition}}
German is used as a lingua franca in Central Europe and historically in Eastern and Northern Europe, and continues to be one to some extent.{{sfn|Von Polenz|1999|pp=192–94, 96}} As German speakers became established in these regions in Early modern Europe, Low German and later the modern standardized form of High German became the prestigeous language of the urban centers, eventually becoming the common language of the Hanseatic League and later, lands ruled under the Holy Roman Empire and Habsburg monarchy.<ref>Graumann, Olga and Sören Affeldt, [https://www.ide-journal.org/article/2020-volume-7-number-1-the-hanseatic-league-and-education-a-neglected-chapter-in-european-and-german-history/ The Hanseatic League and Education – A Neglected chapter in European and German history], ''International Dialogues on Education: Past and Present'', Volume 7: 2020, 20 May 2020</ref> Its prominence outside of Europe grew in the 19th century, becoming a common language in science and other academic fields such as psychology, and despite the rise of English, continues to serve as an important lingua franca.<ref>Rocco, Goranka. [https://www.apgads.lu.lv/fileadmin/user_upload/lu_portal/apgads/PDF/LINCS-2020/lincs.2020.07.pdf The Status of German as a Lingua Franca in Written Scientific Communication: A Study on Language Policies in Linguistic Journals] Language for International Communication: Linking Interdiscipinary Perspectives, Vol. 3, 2020, pp. 79-93.</ref>
Outside of the German-speaking countries of Central Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein), German remains a key second language in the region and the Balkans, especially in former Yugoslavia.<ref>Darquennes, Jeroen and Peter Nelde, [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/annual-review-of-applied-linguistics/article/german-as-a-lingua-franca/249BDB6060F8BB43B0D1994679A3679A German as a lingua franca], Annual Review of Applied Linguistics ,Volume 26 , January 2006, pp. 61 - 77 25 October 2006.</ref> It is also a national language in the former German colony of Namibia, where it is especially used in commerce and taught as a second language. German is also one of the working languages of the EU along with English and French, but it is used less in that role than the other two.
====Chinese==== {{Main|Sinosphere}} [[File:Map-Sinophone_World.png|thumb|279x279px|Map of the Chinese-speaking world. {{legend|#008000|native majority}} {{legend|#5ac038|official or educational}} {{legend|#b1ff72|significant minorities}}]]
Today, Standard Mandarin Chinese is the lingua franca of China and Taiwan, which are home to many mutually unintelligible varieties of Chinese and, in the case of Taiwan, indigenous Formosan languages. Among many Chinese diaspora communities, Cantonese is often used as the lingua franca instead, particularly in Southeast Asia, due to a longer history of immigration and trade networks with southern China, although Mandarin has also been adopted in some circles since the 2000s.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Li|first=David|date=2006|title=Chinese as a lingua franca in Greater China|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/231791003|journal=Annual Review of Applied Linguistics|volume=26|pages=149–176|doi=10.1017/S0267190506000080}}</ref>
====Arabic==== thumb|left|Arabic language map<br />Dark green: majority; light green: significant minority
Arabic was used as a lingua franca across the Islamic empires, whose sizes necessitated a common language, and spread across the Arab and Muslim worlds.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=M. A.|first1=Geography|last2=B. A.|first2=English and Geography|title=How Lingua Franca Helps Different Cultures to Communicate|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/lingua-franca-overview-1434507|access-date=2021-04-24|website=ThoughtCo|language=en|archive-date=17 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017152440/https://www.thoughtco.com/lingua-franca-overview-1434507|url-status=live}}</ref> In Djibouti and parts of Eritrea, both of which are countries where multiple official languages are spoken, Arabic has emerged as a lingua franca in part thanks to the population of the region being predominantly Muslim and Arabic playing a crucial role in Islam. In addition, after having fled from Eritrea due to ongoing warfare and gone to some of the nearby Arab countries, Eritrean emigrants are contributing to Arabic becoming a lingua franca in the region by coming back to their homelands having picked up the Arabic language.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Simeone-Sinelle|first=Marie-Claude|date=2005|title=Arabic Lingua Franca in the Horn of Africa|journal=Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics|volume=2|via=Academia.edu}}</ref>
====Russian==== {{Main|Russophone}} thumb|Areas where Russian is the majority language (medium blue) or a minority language (light blue)
Besides being the largest native language in Europe, Russian is widely used and understood in Central Asia and the Caucasus, areas formerly part of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union. Its use remains prevalent in many post-Soviet states. Russian has some presence as a minority language in the Baltic states and some other states in Eastern Europe, as well as in pre-reform and opening up China.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} It remains the official language of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Russian is also one of the six official languages of the United Nations.<ref name="un.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/Depts/DGACM/faq_languages.htm |title=Department for General Assembly and Conference Management – What are the official languages of the United Nations?|access-date=25 January 2008|publisher=United Nations|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071012035848/http://www.un.org/Depts/DGACM/faq_languages.htm |archive-date=12 October 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, its use has declined in post-Soviet states. Some members of Russian-speaking minorities outside Russia have either emigrated to Russia or become more integrated into their countries of residence, often learning the local language and, in some cases, using it more frequently in daily communication.
For contrast, in Central European countries that, after the Second World War, were included in the Soviet Union's sphere of influence, Russian was taught primarily as a compulsory foreign language and used for communication within the Eastern Bloc. Russian-speaking minorities in these countries were generally small, and although English is now the primary foreign language in schools, the use of Russian has significantly declined.
====Italian==== {{Main|Italian language}} thumb|upright=1.5|Italian language distribution {{legend|#1E90FF|Areas where it is the majority language}} {{legend|#87CEEB|Areas where it is a minority language or where it was a former colonial language}} {{legend|#00FF00|Areas where notable Italian-speaking communities are present}}
During the Renaissance, Italian, particularly the Tuscan variety that became the basis of standard Italian, was considered the lingua franca among the European elite and royal courts, especially in cultural and intellectual circles. The literary authority of figures such as Dante Alighieri, Petrarch and Giovanni Boccaccio established Italian as a major language of humanist scholarship and literature. Moreover, the political and economic influence of Italian city-states like the Republic of Florence and the Republic of Venice attracted diplomats, merchants, artists, and scholars from across Europe, many of whom engaged with Italian as a language of culture, commerce, and artistic exchange. While Latin remained the primary language of formal scholarship and diplomacy, Italian functioned as an important vernacular medium within elite artistic, literary, and courtly environments during that period.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Italian Language {{!}} Language and Linguistics {{!}} Research Starters {{!}} EBSCO Research |url=https://www.ebsco.com/ |access-date=2026-02-09 |website=EBSCO |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Grendler |first=Paul F. |url=http://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofre0000gren |title=Encyclopedia of the Renaissance |last2=Renaissance Society of America |date=1999 |publisher=New York : Scribner's |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-684-80514-6}}</ref>
From the 17th century onward, Italian became the principal lingua franca of European music, particularly in opera and classical composition. Because Italy was the birthplace of opera and a leading center of musical innovation, its terminology was adopted internationally. Composers such as Claudio Monteverdi and later Antonio Vivaldi helped solidify Italian’s prestige, and musical terms became standard across Europe.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":8" />
Today, Italian is the main working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy and the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian influence led to the development of derivated languages and dialects worldwide. It is also widespread in various sectors and markets, with its loanwords used in arts, luxury goods, fashion, sports and cuisine; it has a significant use in musical terminology and opera, with numerous Italian words referring to music that have become international terms taken into various languages worldwide, including in English.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.happylanguages.co.uk/italian-language-music/ |title=Why Is Italian the Language of Music? |work=Happy Languages |first=Giovanni |last=Nuccio |date=19 October 2016 |access-date=25 November 2020}}</ref>
Italian is an official language in Italy, San Marino, Switzerland (Ticino and part of the Grisons), and Vatican City, and it has official minority status in Croatia, Slovenia (Istria), Romania,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Languages covered by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages |url=https://www.coe.int/t/dg4/education/minlang/AboutCharter/LanguagesCovered.pdf |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260108174828/https://www.coe.int/t/dg4/education/minlang/AboutCharter/LanguagesCovered.pdf |archive-date=2026-01-08 |access-date=2026-02-22 |website=www.coe.int}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dri.gov.ro/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Multilingvism-si-limbi-minoritare-in-Romania.pdf|title=MULTILINGVISM ŞI LIMBI MINORITARE ÎN ROMÂNIA|language=ro|access-date=13 June 2019|archive-date=14 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214095127/http://www.dri.gov.ro/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Multilingvism-si-limbi-minoritare-in-Romania.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Bosnia and Herzegovina,<ref name="coe" /> and in 6 municipalities of Brazil.<ref name="encantado">{{Cite web |url=https://direitolinguistico.com.br/repositorio/s/rbll/item/164 |title=Lei n. 5.048/2023 - Do Município de Encantado / RS |access-date=11 August 2024 |archive-date=11 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240811141927/https://direitolinguistico.com.br/repositorio/s/rbll/item/164 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://direitolinguistico.com.br/repositorio/s/rbll/item/95 |title=Lei n. 2.812/2021 - Do Município de Santa Teresa / ES |access-date=11 August 2024 |archive-date=11 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240811141902/https://direitolinguistico.com.br/repositorio/s/rbll/item/95 |url-status=live }}</ref> It is also spoken in other European and non-EU countries, most notably in Malta (by 66% of the population),<ref>{{cite report|author=European Commission |title=Special Eurobarometer 386: Europeans and Their Languages |date=June 2012 |series=Eurobarometer Special Surveys |url=http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_en.pdf |access-date=12 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106183351/http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_en.pdf |archive-date= 6 January 2016 }}</ref> Albania (upwards of 70%),<ref name="Zonova, Tatiana 2013">Zonova, Tatiana. "The Italian language: soft power or dolce potere?." Rivista di Studi Politici Internazionali (2013): 227–231.</ref> and Monaco.<ref>{{Cite web |last=fh56 |title=Italian — University of Leicester |url=http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/modern-languages/lal/languages%20at%20lal/italian |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502004444/http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/modern-languages/lal/languages%20at%20lal/italian |archive-date=2014-05-02 |access-date=2026-02-22 |website=www2.le.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref>
====Polish==== Historically, the Polish language was a lingua franca,<ref name="BRILL"/><ref name="Koyama 2007 137–153"/> important both diplomatically and academically in Central and part of Eastern Europe. It is currently an official language in Poland and the European Union and a recognised minority language in Bosnia and Herzegovina,<ref name="euro-charter">European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages</ref> Brazil,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://notesfrompoland.com/2022/08/01/polish-made-official-language-in-brazilian-town-founded-by-poles/ |title=Polish made official language in Brazilian town founded by Poles |date=August 2022 |access-date=31 January 2023 |archive-date=31 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230131205322/https://notesfrompoland.com/2022/08/01/polish-made-official-language-in-brazilian-town-founded-by-poles/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Czech Republic,<ref name="euro-charter"/> Hungary,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://europapont.blog.hu/2016/03/16/nyelvi_sokszinuseg_az_eu-ban_hivatalos_regionalis_es_kisebbsegi_nyelvek_a_tagallamokban|title=Nyelvi sokszínűség az EU-ban – hivatalos regionális és kisebbségi nyelvek a tagállamokban|access-date=28 November 2018|date=16 March 2016|language=hu|archive-date=9 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180809123545/https://europapont.blog.hu/2016/03/16/nyelvi_sokszinuseg_az_eu-ban_hivatalos_regionalis_es_kisebbsegi_nyelvek_a_tagallamokban|url-status=live}}</ref> Lithuania,<ref>{{cite act|url=http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/QueVoulezVous.asp?NT=157&CM=2&DF=18/04/02&CL=ENG|title=Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities|index=157|type=Treaty|legislature=Council of Europe|date=1 February 1995|access-date=28 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.minelres.lv/NationalLegislation/Lithuania/lithuania.htm|title=MINELRES – Minority related national legislation – Lithuania|website=www.minelres.lv|access-date=28 November 2018|archive-date=18 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918182544/http://www.minelres.lv/NationalLegislation/Lithuania/lithuania.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Romania,<ref>{{cite web|title=Reservations and Declarations for Treaty No.148 – European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages|url=http://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/148/declarations?p_auth=63PpH3zN|website=Council of Europe|access-date=3 December 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208122308/http://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/148/declarations?p_auth=63PpH3zN|archive-date=8 December 2015}}</ref> Slovakia,<ref name="euro-charter"/> Ukraine.<ref name="euro-charter"/><ref>{{cite web | url=http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/5029-17 | title=Law of Ukraine "On Principles of State Language Policy" (Current version — Revision from 01.02.2014) | publisher=Zakon2.rada.gov.ua | work=Document 5029-17, Article 7: Regional or minority languages Ukraine, Paragraph 2 | date=1 February 2014 | access-date=30 April 2014 | archive-date=14 February 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140214125040/http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/5029-17 | url-status=live }}</ref> In the United States, Polish Americans number more than 11 million.
====Portuguese==== {{unref section|date=January 2026}} [[File:Detailed SVG map of the Lusophone world.svg|thumb|left|230x230px|The Lusophone world{{legend|#002375|Native language}} {{legend|#1886FE|Official and administrative language}} {{legend|#79BDFF|Cultural or secondary language}}]]
Portuguese served as lingua franca in the Portuguese Empire, Africa, South America and Asia in the 15th and 16th centuries. When the Portuguese started exploring the seas of Africa, America, Asia and Oceania, they tried to communicate with the natives by mixing a Portuguese-influenced version of lingua franca with the local languages. When Dutch, English or French ships came to compete with the Portuguese, the crews tried to learn this "broken Portuguese". Through a process of change the lingua franca and Portuguese lexicon was replaced with the languages of the people in contact. Portuguese remains an important lingua franca in the Portuguese-speaking African countries, East Timor, and to a certain extent in Macau where it is recognized as an official language alongside Chinese though in practice not commonly spoken. Portuguese and Spanish have a certain degree of mutual intelligibility and mixed languages such as Portuñol are used {{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} to facilitate communication in areas like the border area between Brazil and Uruguay.
====Hindustani==== [[File:Hindi belt.png|thumb|left|The '''Hindi Belt''' (red) is a linguistic region in India where Hindustani (based on Dehlavi) serves as the ''lingua franca.'']]
The Hindustani language, with Hindi and Urdu as dual standard varieties, serves as the lingua franca of Northern India and Pakistan.<ref name="siddiqi1994">{{Citation | title=Hindustani-English code-mixing in modern literary texts | author=Mohammad Tahsin Siddiqi | year=1994 | publisher=University of Wisconsin | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vnrTAAAAMAAJ | quote=... Hindustani is the lingua franca of both India and Pakistan ... | access-date=18 August 2020 | archive-date=17 October 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017152411/https://books.google.com/books?id=vnrTAAAAMAAJ | url-status=live }}{{self-published source|date=August 2018}}</ref>{{Self-published inline|date=August 2018}}<ref name="pulsipher2005">{{Citation | title=World Regional Geography: Global Patterns, Local Lives | author1=Lydia Mihelič Pulsipher | author2=Alex Pulsipher | author3=Holly M. Hapke | year=2005 | isbn=0-7167-1904-5 | publisher=Macmillan | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WfNaSNNAppQC | quote=... By the time of British colonialism, Hindustani was the lingua franca of all of northern India and what is today Pakistan ... | access-date=18 August 2020 | archive-date=17 October 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017152400/https://books.google.com/books?id=WfNaSNNAppQC | url-status=live }}</ref>{{Page needed|date=August 2018}} Many Hindi-speaking North Indian states have adopted the three-language formula in which students are taught: "(a) Hindi (with Sanskrit as part of the composite course); (b) Any other modern Indian language including Urdu and (c) English or any other modern European language." The order in non-Hindi speaking states is: "(a) the major language of the state or region; (b) Hindi; (c) Any other modern Indian language including Urdu but excluding (a) and (b) above; and (d) English or any other modern European language."<ref name="nic">{{cite web|title=Three Language Formula|url=http://www.education.nic.in/cd50years/u/47/3X/473X0I01.htm|publisher=Government of India Ministry of Human Resource Development Department of Education|access-date=16 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222082907/http://www.education.nic.in/cd50years/u/47/3X/473X0I01.htm|archive-date=22 February 2012}}</ref> Hindi has also emerged as a lingua franca in Arunachal Pradesh, a linguistically diverse state in Northeast India.<ref>Chandra, Abhimanyu (22 August 2014). [https://scroll.in/article/675419/how-hindi-became-the-language-of-choice-in-arunachal-pradesh "How Hindi Became the Language of Choice in Arunachal Pradesh."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200821190330/https://scroll.in/article/675419/how-hindi-became-the-language-of-choice-in-arunachal-pradesh |date=21 August 2020 }} ''Scroll.in''. Retrieved 12 March 2019.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/C-17.html|title=Census of India Website : Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India|access-date=17 October 2022|archive-date=13 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191113211224/http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/C-17.html|url-status=live}}</ref> It is estimated that nine-tenths of the state's population knows Hindi.<ref>Roychowdhury, Adrija (27 February 2018). [https://indianexpress.com/article/research/how-hindi-language-became-arunachal-pradeshs-lingua-franca-narendra-modi-5079079/ "How Hindi Became Arunachal Pradesh's Lingua Franca."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200821190341/https://indianexpress.com/article/research/how-hindi-language-became-arunachal-pradeshs-lingua-franca-narendra-modi-5079079/ |date=21 August 2020 }} ''The Indian Express''. Retrieved 12 March 2019.</ref>
Urdu is the lingua franca of Pakistan and had gained significant influence amongst its people, administration and education. While it shares official status with English, Urdu is the preferred and dominant language used for inter-communication between different ethnic groups of Pakistan.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ashraf |first1=Muhammad Azeem |last2=Turner |first2=David A. |last3=Laar |first3=Rizwan Ahmed |date=January 2021 |title=Multilingual Language Practices in Education in Pakistan: The Conflict Between Policy and Practice |journal=SAGE Open |language=en |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=215824402110041 |doi=10.1177/21582440211004140 |issn=2158-2440|doi-access=free }}</ref>
====Malay==== thumb|Countries where pluricentric Malay is spoken, regardless of standard variety
Malay is understood across a cultural region in Southeast Asia called the "Malay world" including Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, southern Thailand, and certain parts of the Philippines. It is pluricentric, with several nations codifying a local vernacular variety into several national literary standards:<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Malay as a pluricentric language|title=Pluricentric Languages|pages=402–3, 413|year=1992|author=Asmah Haji Omar|author-link=Asmah Haji Omar|isbn=3-11-012855-1|editor-first=Michael G. |editor-last=Clyne|publisher=Gruyter|editor-link=Michael Clyne}}</ref> Although Javanese has more native speakers, Indonesia uses a standardized form of Riau Malay as the basis for the national language "Indonesian." Bahasa Indonesia is the sole official language even though it is the mother tongue of only 7% of Indonesians.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Indonesian|website=Asian Languages & Literature|publisher=University of Washington|url=https://asian.washington.edu/fields/indonesian|access-date=2021-04-24|archive-date=16 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210516173537/https://asian.washington.edu/fields/indonesian|url-status=live}}</ref>
====Swahili==== thumb|left|225x225px|Geographic extent of Swahili. Dark green: native range. Medium green: official use. Light green: bilingual use but not official.
Swahili developed as a lingua franca between several Bantu-speaking tribal groups on the east coast of Africa with heavy influence from Arabic.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Swahili-language|title=Swahili language|date=27 August 2014|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=29 April 2019|archive-date=23 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190723004044/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Swahili-language|url-status=live}}</ref> The earliest examples of writing in Swahili are from 1711.<ref>E. A. Alpers, ''Ivory and Slaves in East Central Africa'', London, 1975.., pp. 98–99; T. Vernet, "Les cités-Etats swahili et la puissance omanaise (1650–1720), ''Journal des Africanistes'', 72(2), 2002, pp. 102–105.</ref> In the early 19th century the use of Swahili as a lingua franca moved inland with the Arabic ivory and slave traders. It was eventually adopted by Europeans as well during periods of colonization in the area. German colonizers used it as the language of administration in German East Africa, later becoming Tanganyika, which influenced the choice to use it as a national language in what is now independent Tanzania.<ref name=":2" /> Swahili is currently one of the national languages and it is taught in schools and universities in several East African countries, thus prompting it to be regarded as a modern-day lingua franca by many people in the region. Several Pan-African writers and politicians have unsuccessfully called for Swahili to become the lingua franca of Africa as a means of unifying the African continent and overcoming the legacy of colonialism.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dzahene-Quarshie|first=Josephine|date=December 2013|title=Ghana's Contribution to the Promotion of Kiswahili: Challenges and Prospects for African Unity|journal=Journal of Pan African Studies|volume=6|pages=69–85|via=Academic Search Complete}}</ref>
====Persian==== {{unref section|date=January 2026}} thumb|Areas with significant numbers of people whose first language is Persian (including dialects)
Persian, an Iranian language, is the official language of Iran, Afghanistan (Dari) and Tajikistan (Tajik). It acts as a lingua franca in both Iran and Afghanistan between the various ethnic groups in those countries. The Persian language in South Asia, before the British colonized the Indian subcontinent, was the region's lingua franca and a widely used official language in north India and Pakistan.
====Hausa==== Hausa is the language of communication between speakers of different languages in Northern Nigeria and other West African countries,<ref>{{Cite news|date=2021-03-23|title=Hausa Language: 4 interesting things you should know about Nigeria's most widely spoken dialect|url=https://www.pulse.ng/lifestyle/food-travel/hausa-language-4-interesting-things-you-should-know-about-nigerias-most-widely-spoken/m78gnmh|access-date=2021-04-21|newspaper=Pulse Nigeria|language=en|archive-date=21 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421182432/https://www.pulse.ng/lifestyle/food-travel/hausa-language-4-interesting-things-you-should-know-about-nigerias-most-widely-spoken/m78gnmh|url-status=live}}</ref> including the northern region of Ghana.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Obeng|first=Samuel Gyasi |author-link1=Samuel Obeng (linguist) |date=1997|title=An Analysis of the Linguistic Situation in Ghana|journal=African Languages and Cultures|volume=10|pages=63–81|doi=10.1080/09544169708717813}}</ref>
====Amharic==== Amharic is the lingua franca and most widely spoken language in Ethiopia, and is known by most people who speak another Ethiopian language.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.addisherald.com/amharic-language-how-it-become-ethiopias-lingua-franca/ | title=Amharic Language: How it become Ethiopia's Lingua Franca – Addis Herald }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://omnatigray.org/amharic-lingua-franca-and-tool-of-domination/ | title=Amharic as a lingua franca and tool of domination | date=12 January 2022 }}</ref>
====Creole languages==== {{unref section|date=January 2026}}
Creoles, such as Nigerian Pidgin in Nigeria, Haitian Creole, and Patois etc. are used as lingua francas across the world. This is especially true in Africa, the Caribbean, Melanesia, Southeast Asia and in parts of Australia by Indigenous Australians.
====Sign languages==== [[File:Sign Languages of Turtle Island.svg|thumb|left|Map of the various sign languages of North America, excluding Francosign languages. Hand Talk was the predominant lingua franca prior to European settlement, able to be written down and signed alongside oral languages]]
The majority of pre-colonial North American nations communicated internationally using Hand Talk.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Plains Indian Sign Language|url=https://samnoblemuseum.ou.edu/collections-and-research/native-american-languages/map-of-oklahoma-languages/plains-indian-sign-language/|access-date=2021-04-24|website=Sam Noble Museum|date=21 December 2017 |language=en-US|archive-date=24 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210424233208/https://samnoblemuseum.ou.edu/collections-and-research/native-american-languages/map-of-oklahoma-languages/plains-indian-sign-language/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Graber |first1=Jennifer |title=Who put Native American sign language in the US mail? |url=https://blog.oup.com/2018/05/native-american-sign-language-us-mail/ |website=OUPblog |date=9 May 2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=11 May 2021 |archive-date=15 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215194025/https://blog.oup.com/2018/05/native-american-sign-language-us-mail/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Also called Prairie Sign Language, Plains Indian Sign Language, or First Nations Sign Language, this language functioned predominantly—and still continues to function<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hilleary |first1=Cecily |title=Native American Hand Talkers Fight to Keep Sign Language Alive |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/native-american-hand-talker-fight-to-keep-signed-language-alive/3794333.html |website=VOA |date=3 April 2017 |access-date=11 May 2021 |archive-date=17 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017152402/https://www.voanews.com/a/native-american-hand-talker-fight-to-keep-signed-language-alive/3794333.html |url-status=live }}</ref>—as a second language within most of the (now historical) countries of the Great Plains, from Newe Segobia in the West to Anishinaabewaki in the East, down into what are now the northern states of Mexico and up into Cree Country stopping before Denendeh.<ref>{{cite web |title=Indian Sign Language Council of 1930 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=bfT2a5SGDFA |website=YouTube | date=9 June 2012 |publisher=Grande Polpo Deaf |access-date=11 May 2021 |archive-date=17 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017152522/https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=bfT2a5SGDFA |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Tomkins, William. ''Indian sign language.'' [Republication of "Universal Indian Sign Language of the Plains Indians of North America" 5th ed. 1931]. New York : Dover Publications 1969. (p. 7)</ref> The relationship remains unknown between Hand Talk and other manual Indigenous languages like Keresan Sign Language and Plateau Sign Language, the latter of which is now extinct (though Ktunaxa Sign Language is still used).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Flynn |first1=Darin |title=Indigenous sign languages in Canada |url=https://www.ucalgary.ca/people/darin-flynn/indigenous-sign-languages-in-Canada |website=University of Calgary |access-date=11 May 2021 |archive-date=11 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511005642/https://www.ucalgary.ca/people/darin-flynn/indigenous-sign-languages-in-Canada |url-status=live }}</ref> Although unrelated, perhaps Inuit Sign Language played and continues to play a similar role across Inuit Nunangat and the various Inuit dialects. The original Hand Talk is found across Indian Country in pockets, but it has also been employed to create new or revive old languages, such as with Oneida Sign Language.<ref>{{cite news |title=Oneida Sign language created to connect deaf community with culture {{!}} CBC News |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8_LRBi9y0I | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/I8_LRBi9y0I| archive-date=2021-10-30|access-date=11 May 2021 |publisher=NewsHub}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
International Sign, though a pidgin language, is present at most significant international gatherings, from which interpretations of national sign languages are given, such as in LSF, ASL, BSL, Libras, or Auslan. International Sign, or IS and formerly Gestuno, interpreters can be found at many European Union parliamentary or committee sittings,<ref>{{cite web |title=International Sign |url=https://www.eud.eu/about-us/eud-position-paper/international-sign-guidelines/ |website=European Union of the Deaf |access-date=11 May 2021 |archive-date=28 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128014325/https://www.eud.eu/about-us/eud-position-paper/international-sign-guidelines/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> during certain United Nations affairs,<ref>{{cite web |title=A Disability-Inclusive Response to COVID-19 – Policy Brief Executive Summary (International Sign Language) |url=http://webtv.un.org/watch/a-disability-inclusive-response-to-covid-19-policy-brief-executive-summary-international-sign-language/6154796428001 |website=UN Web TV |publisher=United Nations |access-date=11 May 2021 |archive-date=11 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511090159/http://webtv.un.org/watch/a-disability-inclusive-response-to-covid-19-policy-brief-executive-summary-international-sign-language/6154796428001 |url-status=live }}</ref> conducting international sporting events like the Deaflympics, in all World Federation of the Deaf functions, and across similar settings. The language has few set internal grammatical rules, instead co-opting national vocabularies of the speaker and audience, and modifying the words to bridge linguistic gaps, with heavy use of gestures and classifiers.<ref>{{cite web |title=DEAFGPS: International Sign Connects |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwzSv5JpwjM | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/GwzSv5JpwjM| archive-date=2021-10-30|website=YouTube | date=26 July 2019 |publisher=H3 WORLD TV |access-date=11 May 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|Languages|Linguistics}} * {{annotated link|Creole language}} * {{annotated link|Global language system}} * {{annotated link|Interlinguistics}} * {{annotated link|Language contact}} * List of countries by number of languages * List of languages by number of native speakers * List of languages by total number of speakers * {{annotated link|Pidgin}} * {{annotated link|Rosetta Stone}} * {{annotated link|Trading zones|Trading zones (metaphor)}} * {{annotated link|Universal language}} * {{annotated link|Working language}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book |last= Hall |first= R. A. Jr. |date= 1966 |title= Pidgin and Creole Languages |url= https://archive.org/details/pidgincreolelang0000hall |publisher= Cornell University Press |isbn=0-8014-0173-9 }} * {{cite book |last= Heine |first= Bernd |date= 1970 |title= Status and Use of African Lingua Francas |publisher= BRILL |isbn=3-8039-0033-6 }} * {{cite book |last= Kahane |first= Henry Romanos |date= 1958|title= The Lingua Franca in the Levant }} * {{cite book |last= Melatti |first= Julio Cezar |date= 1983 |title= Índios do Brasil |location= São Paulo |publisher= Hucitec Press |edition= 48 }} * {{cite book |last= Ostler |first= Nicholas |date= 2005 |title= Empires of the Word|url= https://archive.org/details/empiresofwordl00ostl|url-access= registration|location=London |publisher=Harper |isbn= 978-0-00-711871-7 }} * {{cite book |last= Ostler |first= Nicholas |date= 2010 |title= The Last Lingua Franca |url= https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780802717719 |location= New York |publisher= Walker |isbn=978-0-8027-1771-9 }}
==External links== {{Sister project links <!-- Configuration parameters. Do not leave empty; populate, or remove --> |1= |collapsible= |display=Lingua franca |position= |style= <!-- Specify "no" to exclude the corresponding project: --> |wikt=lingua franca |c=Lingua franca |commonscat=no |n=no |q=no |s=no |author=no |b=no |v=no |d=Q80839 }} * {{cite web |url= https://jkorpela.fi/lingua-franca.html |title= English – the universal language on the Internet?}} * {{cite web |url= http://www.italica.rai.it/principali/lingua/bruni/lezioni/f_lll5.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090328135757/http://www.italica.rai.it/principali/lingua/bruni/lezioni/f_lll5.htm |url-status= dead |archive-date= 2009-03-28 |title= ''Lingua franca del Mediterraneo o Sabir'' of professor Francesco Bruni |language=it }} * {{cite web |url= http://www.uwm.edu/~corre/franca/edition3/texts.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090409122609/http://www.uwm.edu/~corre/franca/edition3/texts.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= 2009-04-09 |title= Sample texts}} from Juan del Encina, ''Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme'', Carlo Goldoni's ''L'Impresario da Smyrna'', Diego de Haedo and other sources * {{cite web |url= https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/corre/www/franca/go.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100408100852/https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/corre/www/franca/go.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= 2010-04-08 |title= An introduction to the original Mediterranean Lingua Franca}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lingua Franca}} Category:Lingua francas Category:Languages by place in society Category:Interlinguistics Category:Italian words and phrases