lingua franca
Also known as bridge language, common language, link language, vehicular language, auxiliary language, trade language
language used to facilitate communication between groups without a common native language
AI overview
A lingua franca is a language that people from different language backgrounds use to communicate with each other when they don't share a native language. It matters because it enables trade, diplomacy, cultural exchange, and cooperation across language barriers that would otherwise make understanding difficult or impossible.
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Article
French dictionary printed in 1830 detailing the Mediterranean Lingua Franca
A lingua franca (/ˌlɪŋɡwə ˈfræŋkə/; lit. 'Frankish tongue'; for plurals see § 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.