Lingua franca

<p>A lingua franca , also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a <a href="/facts/Natural_language/B4gLS7Kd">language</a> systematically used to make communication possible between groups of people who do not share a <a href="/facts/First_language/1yK3tnLb">native language</a> or dialect, particularly when it is a third language that is distinct from both of the speakers' native languages.
</p><p>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. The term is taken from the medieval <a href="/facts/Mediterranean_Lingua_Franca/up8XUwJd">Mediterranean Lingua Franca</a>, a <a href="/facts/Romance_languages/TMK4KHI3">Romance</a>-based <a href="/facts/Pidgin_language/BqJNhPCD">pidgin language</a> used especially by traders in the <a href="/facts/Mediterranean_Basin/azjFD5mW">Mediterranean Basin</a> from the 11th to the 19th centuries. A <a href="/facts/World_language/76EkMMr3">world language</a>—a language spoken internationally and by many people—is a language that may function as a global lingua franca.
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Lingua franca open-in-new

Lingua franca