Editing Lingua franca (section)

===Historical lingua francas===

[[File:Ephesians 2,12 - Greek atheos.jpg|thumb|[[Koine Greek]]]]

The use of lingua francas has existed since antiquity.

[[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] remained the common language of a large part of Western Asia from several earlier empires, until it was supplanted in this role by [[Aramaic]].<ref>Ostler, 2005 pp. 38–40</ref><ref>Ostler, 2010 pp. 163–167</ref>

[[Sanskrit]] historically served as a lingua franca throughout the majority of South Asia.<ref>The Last Lingua Franca: English Until the Return of Babel. Nicholas Ostler. Ch.7. {{ISBN|978-0802717719}}</ref><ref>A Dictionary of Buddhism p.350 {{ISBN|0191579173}}</ref><ref>Before the European Challenge: The Great Civilizations of Asia and the Middle East p.180 {{ISBN|0791401685}}</ref> The Sanskrit language's historic presence is attested across a wide geography beyond South Asia. Inscriptions and literary evidence suggest that Sanskrit was already being adopted in Southeast Asia and Central Asia in the 1st millennium CE, through monks, religious pilgrims and merchants.<ref>{{cite book|author=Sheldon Pollock|editor=Jan E. M. Houben|title=Ideology and Status of Sanskrit|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_eqr833q9qYC|year=1996|publisher=BRILL Academic|isbn=978-90-04-10613-0|pages=197–223 with footnotes|access-date=19 March 2022|archive-date=17 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017152353/https://books.google.com/books?id=_eqr833q9qYC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=William S.-Y. Wang|author-link1=William S-Y. Wang|author2=Chaofen Sun|title=The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YqT4BQAAQBAJ|year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-985633-6|pages=6–19, 203–212, 236–245|access-date=19 March 2022|archive-date=17 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017152357/https://books.google.com/books?id=YqT4BQAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Burrow |first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Burrow |title=The Sanskrit Language |year=1973 |edition=3rd, revised |location=London |publisher=Faber & Faber |pages=63–66}}</ref>

Until the early 20th century, [[Literary Chinese]] served as both the written lingua franca and the diplomatic language in East Asia, including China, [[Korea]], [[Empire of Japan|Japan]], [[Ryūkyū Kingdom|Ryūkyū]], and [[Vietnam]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-04-28 |title=Reclaiming a Common Language {{!}} BU Today |url=https://www.bu.edu/articles/2015/reclaiming-a-common-language/ |access-date=2023-07-23 |website=Boston University |language=en}}</ref> In the early 20th century, [[vernacular written Chinese]] replaced Classical Chinese within China as both the written and spoken lingua franca for speakers of different Chinese dialects, and because of the declining power and cultural influence of China in East Asia, English has since replaced Classical Chinese as the lingua franca in East Asia.

[[Koine Greek]] was the lingua franca of the Hellenistic culture. Koine Greek<ref name=collins>{{cite Collins Dictionary|Koine
|access-date=2014-09-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite Dictionary.com|Koine}}</ref><ref name="mw">{{cite Merriam-Webster|Koine}}</ref> (Modern {{langx|el|Ελληνιστική Κοινή|Ellinistikí Kiní|Common Greek}}; {{IPA|el|elinistiˈci ciˈni|lang}}), also known as Alexandrian dialect, common Attic, Hellenistic, or Biblical Greek, was the [[koiné language|common supra-regional form]] of Greek spoken and written during the [[Hellenistic period]], the [[Roman Empire]] and the early [[Byzantine Empire]]. It evolved from the spread of Greek following the conquests of [[Alexander the Great]] in the fourth century BC, and served as the lingua franca of much of the Mediterranean region and the Middle East during the following centuries.<ref name="Bubenik">{{cite book|last=Bubenik|first=V.|year=2007|chapter=The rise of Koiné|editor=A. F. Christidis|title=A history of Ancient Greek: from the beginnings to late antiquity|location=Cambridge|publisher=University Press|pages=342–345}}</ref>

[[Latin]], through the power of the [[Roman Republic]], became the dominant language in [[Italy (geographical region)|Italy]] and subsequently throughout the realms of the Roman Empire. Even after the [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire]], Latin was the common language of communication, science, and academia in Europe until well into the 18th century, when other regional vernaculars (including its own descendants, the Romance languages) supplanted it in common academic and political usage, and it eventually became a [[dead language]] in the modern linguistic definition.

[[Old Tamil]] was once the lingua franca for most of ancient [[Tamilakam]] and [[Sri Lanka]]. [[John Guy (historian)|John Guy]] states that Tamil was also the lingua franca for early maritime traders from India.<ref name="scroll.in">{{citation |title=Scroll.in – News. Politics. Culture. |date=6 February 2015 |url=http://scroll.in/article/704603/Step-aside%2C-Gujaratis%3A-Tamilians-were-India%27s-earliest-recorded-maritime-traders |access-date=29 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150208095602/http://scroll.in/article/704603/Step-aside%2C-Gujaratis%3A-Tamilians-were-India%27s-earliest-recorded-maritime-traders |archive-date=8 February 2015 |url-status=live |publisher=scroll.in}}</ref> The language and its dialects were used widely in the state of Kerala as the major language of administration, literature and common usage until the 12th century CE.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Murthy |first1=Srinivasa |title=Essays on Indian History and culture: Felicitation volume in Honour of Professor B. Sheik Ali |pages=85–106 |year=1990 |place=New Delhi |publisher=Mittal |isbn=978-81-7099-211-0 |last2=Rao |first2=Surendra |last3=Veluthat |first3=Kesavan |last4=Bari |first4=S.A.}}</ref>

[[Māori language|Classical Māori]] is the retrospective name for the language (formed out of many dialects, albeit all mutually intelligible)<ref name="History of the Māori language">{{Cite web |title=History of the Māori language |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/maori-language-week/history-of-the-maori-language |access-date=2023-09-12 |website=nzhistory.govt.nz |language=en}}</ref> of both the North Island and the South Island for the 800 years before the [[Immigration to New Zealand|European settlement of New Zealand]].<ref>''Ko Aotearoa Tēnei, Te Taumata Tuarua - Wai 262'' (2011), Waitangi Tribunal, pp. 41</ref><ref>Preservation of Classical Maori', from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A.H. McLintock. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand URL: <nowiki>http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/1966/maori-language/page-10</nowiki> (accessed 16 Mar 2024)</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Belich |first=Jamie |title=Making Peoples: A History of New Zealanders |date=1996 |publisher=[[Penguin Books New Zealand]] |isbn=9781742288222 |edition=1st |location=Auckland |publication-date=1996 |pages=57,67 |language=English}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=New Zealand literature - Modern Maori, Poetry, Novels {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/New-Zealand-literature/Modern-Maori-literature |access-date=2024-03-15 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>''High or Classical Māori:'' Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 36, Number 21. 5 September 1973</ref> [[Māori people|Māori]] shared a common language that was used for trade, inter-[[iwi]] dialogue on [[marae]], and education through [[wānanga]].<ref>https://teara.govt.nz/en/economic-history/page-2 {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Brar |first=Atarjit |title=LibGuides: The Polynesian expansion across the Pacific: Maori |url=https://libguides.stalbanssc.vic.edu.au/polynesian-expansion/maori |access-date=2023-09-12 |website=libguides.stalbanssc.vic.edu.au |language=en}}</ref> After the signing of the [[Treaty of Waitangi]], Māori language was the lingua franca of the [[Colony of New Zealand]] until English superseded it in the 1870s.<ref name="History of the Māori language"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Post |url=https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/350124740/ok-monolingual-boomer-you-might-be-having-your-final-moment-sun#:~:text=At%20the%20advent%20of%20colonisation,language%20of%20trade%20and%20education. |access-date=2024-03-15 |website=www.thepost.co.nz}}</ref> The description of Māori language as New Zealand's 19th-century lingua franca has been widely accepted.<ref>Benton, Richard A. "Changes in Language Use in a Rural Maori Community  1963-1978." ''The Journal of the Polynesian Society'', vol. 89, no. 4, 1980, pp. 455–78. ''JSTOR'', <nowiki>http://www.jstor.org/stable/20705517</nowiki>. Accessed 15 Mar. 2024.</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=The Post |url=https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/350124740/ok-monolingual-boomer-you-might-be-having-your-final-moment-sun#:~:text=At%20the%20advent%20of%20colonisation,language%20of%20trade%20and%20education. |access-date=2024-03-15 |website=www.thepost.co.nz}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Coffey |first=Clare |title=Demand For Māori Language Skills at Work Rises in New Zealand |url=https://lightcast.io/resources/blog/demand-for-maori-language-skills-at-work-rises-in-new-zealand |access-date=2024-03-15 |website=Lightcast |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Revitalizing Endangered Languages |url=https://www.iar-gwu.org/blog/vsba8c5mqrhvufzl4gjfmqz39e20x0 |access-date=2024-03-15 |website=THE INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS REVIEW |language=en-US}}</ref> The language was initially vital for all European and [[Chinese New Zealanders|Chinese migrants]] in New Zealand to learn,<ref name="Revitalizing Endangered Languages">{{Cite web |title=Revitalizing Endangered Languages |url=https://www.iar-gwu.org/blog/vsba8c5mqrhvufzl4gjfmqz39e20x0 |access-date=2023-09-12 |website=THE INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS REVIEW |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Coffey |first=Clare |title=Demand For Māori Language Skills at Work Rises in New Zealand |url=https://lightcast.io/resources/blog/demand-for-maori-language-skills-at-work-rises-in-new-zealand |access-date=2024-03-15 |website=Lightcast |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Post |url=https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/350124740/ok-monolingual-boomer-you-might-be-having-your-final-moment-sun#:~:text=At%20the%20advent%20of%20colonisation,language%20of%20trade%20and%20education. |access-date=2024-03-15 |website=www.thepost.co.nz}}</ref> as Māori formed a majority of the population, owned nearly all the country's land and dominated the economy until the 1860s.<ref name="Revitalizing Endangered Languages"/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Keane |first=Basil |date=11 March 2020 |title=Te Māori i te ohanga – Māori in the economy - Māori enterprise, 1840 to 1860 |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/te-maori-i-te-ohanga-maori-in-the-economy/page-3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240315040836/https://teara.govt.nz/en/te-maori-i-te-ohanga-maori-in-the-economy/page-3 |archive-date=15 March 2024 |access-date=19 November 2024 |website=Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand}}</ref> Discriminatory laws such as the [[Native schools|Native Schools Act 1867]] contributed to the demise of Māori language as a lingua franca.<ref name="History of the Māori language"/>

[[Sogdian language|Sogdian]] was used to facilitate trade between those who spoke different languages along the [[Silk Road]], which is why native speakers of Sogdian were employed as translators in [[Tang dynasty|Tang China]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lung|first=Rachel|title=Interpreters in Early Imperial China|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company|year=2011|isbn=9789027284181|pages=151–154}}</ref> The Sogdians also ended up circulating spiritual beliefs and texts, including those of [[Buddhism]] and [[Christianity]], thanks to their ability to communicate to many people in the region through their native language.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Who Were the Sogdians, {{!}} The Sogdians|url=https://sogdians.si.edu/introduction/|access-date=2021-05-10|website=sogdians.si.edu|archive-date=11 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911220242/https://sogdians.si.edu/introduction/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Old Church Slavonic]], an [[Eastern South Slavic]] language, is the first Slavic [[literary language]]. Between 9th and 11th century, it was the lingua franca of a great part of the predominantly [[Slavs|Slavic]] states and populations in [[Southeast Europe|Southeast]] and [[Eastern Europe]], in [[liturgy]] and church organization, culture, literature, education and diplomacy, as an [[Official language]] and [[National language]] in the case of [[Bulgaria]]. It was the first national and also international Slavic literary language (autonym {{lang|cu|словѣ́ньскъ ѩꙁꙑ́къ}}, {{lang|cu-Latn|slověnĭskŭ językŭ}}).<ref name="lpd">{{citation|last= Wells|first= John C.|year= 2008|title= Longman Pronunciation Dictionary|edition= 3rd|publisher= Longman|isbn= 9781405881180}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last= Jones |first= Daniel |author-link= Daniel Jones (phonetician) |title= English Pronouncing Dictionary |editor= Peter Roach |editor2= James Hartmann |editor3= Jane Setter |place= Cambridge |publisher= Cambridge University Press |orig-year= 1917 |year= 2003 |isbn= 978-3-12-539683-8 }}</ref> The Glagolitic alphabet was originally used at both schools, though the [[Cyrillic script]] was developed early on at the [[Preslav Literary School]], where it superseded Glagolitic as the official script in [[First Bulgarian Empire|Bulgaria]] in 893. Old Church Slavonic spread to other South-Eastern, Central, and Eastern European Slavic territories, most notably [[Croatia]], [[Serbia]], [[Bohemia]], [[Lesser Poland]], and principalities of the [[Kievan Rus']] while retaining characteristically [[South Slavic languages|South Slavic]] linguistic features. It spread also to not completely Slavic territories between the [[Carpathian Mountains]], the [[Danube]] and the [[Black Sea]], corresponding to [[Wallachia]] and [[Moldavia]]. Nowadays, the Cyrillic [[writing system]] is used for various languages across Eurasia, and as the national script in various Slavic, [[Turkic languages|Turkic]], [[Mongolic languages|Mongolic]], [[Uralic languages|Uralic]], [[Caucasian languages|Caucasian]] and [[Iranian languages|Iranic]]-speaking countries in [[Southeastern Europe]], Eastern Europe, the [[Caucasus]], Central, North, and East Asia.

The [[Mediterranean Lingua Franca]] was largely based on Italian and [[Provençal dialect|Provençal]]. This language was spoken from the 11th to 19th centuries around the Mediterranean basin, particularly in the European commercial empires of Italian cities ([[Genoa]], Venice, [[Florence]], Milan, [[Pisa]], [[Siena]]) and in trading ports located throughout the eastern Mediterranean rim.<ref>Henry Romanos Kahane. ''The Lingua Franca in the Levant'' (Turkish Nautical Terms of Italian and Greek Origin)</ref>

During the [[Renaissance]], standard Italian was spoken as a language of culture in the main royal courts of Europe, and among intellectuals. This lasted from the 14th century to the end of the 16th, when French replaced Italian as the usual lingua franca in northern Europe.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}} Italian musical terms, in particular dynamic and tempo notations, have continued in use to the present day.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15040264|title=Italian: The Language That Sings|website=NPR.org|access-date=21 February 2019|archive-date=17 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017152355/https://www.npr.org/2007/10/08/15040264/italian-the-language-that-sings|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ivirtuosidelloperadiroma.com/en/why-italian-is-the-language-of-music-and-opera/ |title=Why Italian is the language of music and opera |website=I Virtuosi dell'Opera Di Roma |date=4 January 2022 |access-date=10 January 2023}}</ref>

[[Classical Quechua]] is either of two historical forms of [[Quechuan languages|Quechua]], the exact relationship and degree of closeness between which is controversial, and which have sometimes been identified with each other.<ref>See Itier (2000: 47) for the distinction between the first and second enumerated senses, and the quote below for their partial identification.</ref> These are:

# the variety of Quechua that was used as a lingua franca and administrative language in the [[Inca Empire]] (1438–1533)<ref name=snow,stark1971>Snow, Charles T., Louisa Rowell Stark. 1971. Ancash Quechua: A Pedagogical Grammar. P.V 'The Quechua language is generally associated with the "classical" Quechua of the Cuzco area, which was used as a lingua franca through Peru and Bolivia with the spread of the Inca Empire'</ref> (or Inca lingua franca<ref>Following the terminology of Durston 2007: 40</ref>). Since the Incas did not have writing, the evidence about the characteristics of this variety is scant and they have been a subject of significant disagreements.<ref>Durston 2007: 40, 322</ref>
# the variety of Quechua that was used in writing for religious and administrative purposes in the Andean territories of the Spanish Empire, mostly in the late 16th century and the first half of the 17th century and has sometimes been referred to, both historically and in academia, as ''lengua general'' ('common language')<ref>Beyersdorff, Margot, Sabine Dedenbach-Salazar Sáenz. 1994. Andean Oral Traditions: Discourse and Literature. P.275. 'the primarily [[catechesis|catechetical]] domain of this lingua franca – sometimes referred to as "classical" Quechua'...</ref><ref>Bills, Garland D., Bernardo Valejo. 1969. P. XV. 'Immediately following the Spanish Conquest the Quechua language, especially the prestigious "classical" Quechua of the Cuzco area, was used as a lingua franca throughout the Andean region by both missionaries and administrators.'</ref><ref>Cf. also Durston (2007: 17): 'The 1550–1650 period can be considered both formative and classical in relation to the late colonial and republican production'.</ref><ref>See e.g. Taylor 1975: 7–8 for the dating and the name ''lengua general'' and Adelaar 2007: 183 for the dating</ref> (or Standard Colonial Quechua<ref>Following the terminology of Durston (2007: 40)</ref>).

[[Ajem-Turkic]] functioned as lingua franca in the Caucasus region and in southeastern [[Dagestan]], and was widely spoken at the court and in the army of [[Safavid Iran]].<ref>{{cite book|pages=248–261|chapter=14|title=The Turkic Languages|author1=Lars Johanson|author2=Éva Á. Castó|year=1998|publisher=Routledge}}</ref>