interlanguage
nounUS /ɪnˈtɜɹˈlæŋɡwɪd͡ʒ/
Etymology From inter- + language. In the language acquisition sense introduced by Larry Selinker in 1972.
1
A language generated by a student of a foreign language that incorporates aspects of their native language and the target language.
- Trasyanka and Surzhyk are interlanguages: a Belarusian–Russian and a Ukrainian–Russian mixed language.
- The learner's selection from his/her store of interlanguage rules is not haphazard but systematic and predictable, based as it is on his/her existing rule system in much the same way as the native speaker bases his/her speech on the internalized knowledge of the L1 system.2011, Anna Trosborg, Interlanguage Pragmatics: Requests, Complaints, and Apologies, Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 54:
2
A lingua franca, a common language used by speakers of different languages
- Latin used to be the European interlanguage. Currently English widely serves this purpose.
- As [David] Bellos points out, those born as English speakers are now a minority of English speakers: most speak it as a second language. English is the world’s biggest interlanguage.2011 October 28, Adam Thirlwell, “The Joyful Side of Translation”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 12 Nov 2020:
3
A pidgin or creole
- Related terms
- interlinguist