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What The Heck Is A Lingua Franca?

June 23rd, 2007 at 5:28 pm · DrHGuy · 2 Comments



The Definition

The title of yesterday’s post, Carpentersville Outlaws Joie de Vivre - English Now Lingua Franca, has prompted a handful of readers to email queries about the term, lingua franca. Those content of those questions can be best summarized as “Huh?”

As it turns out, lingua franca is neither this month’s featured entrée at The Olive Garden or a sex technique that is illegal in 30 states.

It is, instead, any language that is used extensively by populations other than its native speakers, i.e., a language used to communicate between individuals who ordinarily speak different languages. The most common impetus for the use of a lingua franca is the facilitation of commerce. Diplomacy is another sphere in which lingua franca plays an important role.

The specific language used as a lingua franca is often the most influential language in the area although pidgin formats may also be employed. One such variation is Globish:

Globish is a simple pragmatic form of English codified by Jean-Paul Nerriere, a retired vice-president of IBM in the US. It involves a vocabulary limited to 1500 words, short sentences, basic syntax, an absence of idiomatic expressions and extensive hand gestures to get the point across. Nerriere, 66, originally sought to help non-English speakers — notably his compatriots — in an era when business meetings are normally held in English. He advised that instead of struggling to master English, they should content themselves with Globish.


Origins

Originally “Lingua Franca” referenced a specific linguistic mix, now extinct, of Italian (predominantly), Spanish, Persian, French, Greek and Arabic used for communication as a diplomatic language. throughout the Middle East during the medieval period. The term, “Lingua Franca,” has since transformed to the generic description used today.

“Lingua Franca” literally means “language of the Franks.” While the Franks were the tribe that evolved into the feudal state of France,1 “Franks” was used by the medieval Arabs to refer to the inhabitants of Western Europe in general.


English As A Lingua Franca

The Wikipedia article, Evolution of the British Empire, points out that

“Due to the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, English has achieved lingua franca status worldwide.”


Map segments in color indicate areas that were part of the British Empire



English continues to be the most frequently used lingua franca, in part because of its pervasive use in aviation and the internet.

At some point in history, however, Greek, Latin, French, and Spanish have served as the international lingua franca. In addition, German, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Aramaic, Indonesian, Chinese, Hindi, Swahili, and Zulu, among others, have been the lingua franca of large parts of the world.

There is little reason to believe that the predominance of English is a permanent state of affairs and, in fact, if history is a predictor of the future, it seems likely that another language will serve that purpose, replacing English.


The Lingua Franca Joke

This joke is widely dispersed across the internet. This particular version came from Euro English: Lingua Franca or The Trumpet of Doom?

The European Language Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the EU rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty’s govt conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5 year phase in plan that would be known as “EuroEnglish”:

In the first year, “s” will replace the soft “c”
..sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard “c” will be dropped in favor of the “k”. This should klear up konfusion and keyboards kan have 1 less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome “ph” will be replaced with the “f”. This will make words like “fotograf” 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of the silent “e”’s in the language is disgracful, and they should go away.

By the 4th yar, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing “th” with “z” and “w” with “v”. During ze fifz year, ze unesesary “o” kan be dropd from vords kontaiining “ou” and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.

After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech ozer.

ZE DREM VIL FINALI KUM TRU!!



Footnotes

  1. The “language of the Franks” notation contributed to the wordplay of “Carpentersville Outlaws Joie de Vivre - English Now Lingua Franca,” complementing the French origins of “Joie de Vivre” and defining English as, literally, the “language of the French.” Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.↩

Tags: Aha! Items

2 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Squirrely Jedi // Jun 23, 2007 at 11:26 pm

    Everyone speaking English with an exaggerated German accent — the German major in me has nightmares about this…

  • 2 Laiane // Jun 24, 2007 at 9:16 am

    This reminded me of back when I was doing my foreign study semesters in Nairobi, Kenya. Swahili was the lingua franca, and the American students learned such crucial phrases as:

    I want a large cold beer please; hurry!

    Where’s the university? (which sounded quite like “Where’s the bathroom?” if you mispronounced your vowels)

    [Expletive deleted] yourself!