Editing Lingua franca (section)

{{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}}

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 [[Natural language|language]] systematically used to make communication possible between groups of people who do not share a [[First language|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>

Linguae francae 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 languages|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 |publisher=University College London |access-date=17 October 2024}}</ref>