Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Lingua Franca \Lin"gua Fran"ca\ (l[i^][ng]"gw[.a] fr[a^][ng]"k[.a]) n. [It., prop., language of the Franks.]
The commercial language of the Levant, -- a mixture of the languages of the people of the region and of foreign traders.
Any hybrid or other language used over a wide area as a common or commercial tongue among peoples of different speech.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1620s, from Italian, literally "Frankish tongue." Originally a form of communication used in the Levant, a stripped-down Italian peppered with Spanish, French, Greek, Arabic, and Turkish words. The name is probably from the Arabic custom, dating back to the Crusades, of calling all Europeans Franks (see Frank). Sometimes in 17c. English sources also known as Bastard Spanish.
Wiktionary
n. a common language used by people of diverse backgrounds to communicate with one another, often a basic form of speech with simplified grammar
WordNet
n. a common language used by speakers of different languages; "Koine is a dialect of ancient Greek that was the lingua franca of the empire of Alexander the Great and was widely spoken throughout the eastern Mediterranean area in Roman times" [syn: interlanguage, koine]
Wikipedia
A lingua franca also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language or vehicular language, is a language or dialect systematically (as opposed to occasionally, or casually) used to make communication possible between people who do not share a native language or dialect, particularly when it is a third language that is distinct from both native languages.
Lingua francas have developed around the world throughout human history, sometimes for commercial reasons (so-called "trade languages") but also for cultural, religious, diplomatic and administrative convenience, and as a means of exchanging information between scientists and other scholars of different nationalities. The term originates with one such language, Mediterranean Lingua Franca.
Lingua Franca was an American magazine about intellectual and literary life in academia.
A lingua franca is a language used for communication between speakers of different languages.
- Such languages are now listed in List of lingua francas.
Lingua Franca or lingua franca can also refer to:
- Mediterranean Lingua Franca, the lingua franca of the Mediterranean Basin for which the term is originally named
- Lingua Franca (magazine), a periodical
- " Linguafranc" (Japanese: リンガ・フランカ Ringa Furanka), song by South Korean girl group Girls' Generation from the 2013 single Love & Girls
Usage examples of "lingua franca".
The issei had of course brought all languages with them, but English had been their lingua franca.
He spoke a variant of the lingua franca that seemed to hold wherever they went in the Dungeon.
The cheerful merchant called out to Stephen, first in Arabic, then in a mostly Spanish lingua franca, that he should have them for a trifle - they were perfectly healthy and in a very few years, if fed moderately, they would be capable of severe labour: even now, ha, ha, they could be put to scare crows, and they could always be used for pleasure.
By the time of the New Testament, the koine had become the lingua franca of the Middle East, replacing Aramaic which had previously supplanted Akkadian (I know these things because I am a professional writer and it is essential that I possess a scholarly knowledge about languages).
Hornblower hoped that Turner's command of lingua franca was equal to this demand upon it.
The best Mandarax could do was to identify one word in twenty, maybe, as being closely related to Quechuan, the lingua franca of the Inca Empire.
Here and there Mandarax thought it might have heard a little Arabic, too, the lingua franca of the African slave trade so long ago.
Several other languages are spoken by larger numbers of people, but there is no other that has any claim to be a world-wide lingua franca.
But now with the new AIs, and a continuing stream of new immigrants speaking the full array of Terran languages, it looked like things might broaden back out again, as new nisei stayed with their primary languages and used AIs as their lingua franca instead of English.
Cabell stepped back, surprised that the Human knew the old empire's lingua franca.