Source: French to English Tester Published on: 2026-05-02
Source: The Conversation – in French– By Alexandra Aikhenvald, Professor and Australian Laureate Fellow, Jawun Research Institute, CQUniversity Australia
Why do some languages establish themselves as universal tools before declining? From Antiquity to the digital age, lingua francas follow the paths of power and exchange.
When theCrusaderslanding on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean at the end of the 11th century, they must communicate among themselves, but also with merchants and local populations.
Many then speak different Romance languages: Italian (notably that of the powerful city-states of Venice and Genoa), Provençal, French, or even their common ancestor, Latin.
Most Westerners present in Southern Europe are French, particularly originating from the area between Marseille and Genoa, from where ships and merchants depart toward the Middle East. These Westerners are collectively referred to by the Arabs and Greeks as“Francs”.
Around the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204), or even a little earlier, a composite languageemerges graduallyin the eastern Mediterranean, before spreading westward. This common language, used by the ‘Franks’ and by those who trade and fight with them, is also called Sabir, bastard Italian or bastard Spanish. But it is probably under the name oflingua francathat you know it best: literally, the “language of the Franks.”
This Frankish language is a mixture of simplified Italian, French, and Spanish, enriched with some Arabic and Turkish contributions. It was used on the Mediterranean shores of the Middle East until the end of the 19th century, beforefall into disuse.
Written in lowercase,lingua francadesignates today any language serving as a means of communication between people who do not share any other.
An ancient tradition
Thelingua francasdate back to Antiquity. TheSanskritthus served as a lingua franca in a large part of Southeast Asia and Central Asia during the first millennium CE, notably through trade exchanges and religious dissemination.
Around the Mediterranean, theGreekplays this role from around 300 BC to 500 AD: it is used in trade, literature, education, and in the spread of early Christianity.
Between the 2nd and 4th centuries, standard Latin supplants Greek aslingua francaof the expanding Catholic Church. It then establishes itself as the pan-European language of religion, culture, and knowledge, and remains so until the 19th century.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
From the 17th century, theArabicestablishes itself as a _lingua franca_ throughout the Islamic world, connecting communities in Africa and Asia.
In the same century, with the rise of France as an economic power, French gradually replaces Latin in many fields and becomes the firstlingua franca“global” in politics, diplomacy, commerce, and education. Language of royal courts, it is used by scholars, aristocrats, merchants, and diplomats to communicate and write among themselves. French remains the main language of international relations until the end of the Second World War.
After the 1940s, partly under the effect of the growing influence of the United States, English established itself as the mainlingua francaAt the global level.
Create a new language
With the colonial expansion of the imperial powers and their languages — Spanish, English, French, Portuguese, German, and Dutch — from around the 15th century, the termlingua franca has just been usedlike a common noun.
Throughout European colonization, people from different linguistic groups are forced to work together as slaves or indentured servants. They communicate with each other, as well as with their masters, through a simplified language used for limited purposes: simple orders, questions, and basic statements mixing the elements each has at hand. This type of improvised means of communication is calledpidgin(which would come from the English word “business”).
Thepidginscan serve aslingua franca. When their speakers begin to marry each other, apidgincan become the only language spoken by the next generation. It then develops into a language in its own right — acreole— used in all contexts.
Creoles like thetok pisinin Papua New Guinea, thesrananin Suriname, theKristangin Malaysia or even theHaitian Creolein Haiti today serve aslingua francain these countries.
A global language can also be created from scratch.
The end of the 19th century sees the emergence of projects for universal languages. The most famous is theEsperanto, “language of hope”, created by Ludwik Zamenhof in 1887 as an “international language”, that is to say alingua francageneral. Esperanto still has a few thousand native speakers today and many more enthusiasts, but its use is gradually declining.
The world’s “lingua franca” today
Thelingua francasappear when they become necessary, then decline when they are replaced by others. German thus ceased to be one with the loss of colonies after the First World War. ThePortugueseremains onelingua francain Brazil, and Spanish in other South American countries.
As for French, its global influence endures: abroad, people still send a letterby planeorposte restante.
But there is a big winner, far ahead of the others. English isnow becomethe global language, extending far beyond native speakers and the former colonies of English-speaking powers. It is the language of international diplomacy, the academic world, and especially technological advances, social networks, and artificial intelligence.
Does the rapid spread of English threaten to make other languages disappear, whether minority languages or other lingua francas, and more broadly linguistic diversity on a global scale? The question remains open. The growing importance ofmandarinas the main lingua franca in China, of theArabicAcross Africa and the Middle East, as well as theresilience of speakersTo keep their languages alive – and with them, their cultures and histories – could well contain the hegemony of English.
Alexandra Aikhenvald does not work for, does not advise, does not own shares, does not receive funds from an organization that could benefit from this article, and has declared no other affiliation than her research institution.
–ref. What is a “lingua franca”? A brief history, from the Crusades to our days –https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-lingua-franca-a-brief-history-from-the-crusades-to-the-present-281649