Any language regularly used for communication between people who do not share a native language is a lingua franca. Lingua franca is a functional term, independent of any linguistic history or language structure. See more

The term "lingua franca" derives from Mediterranean Lingua Franca (also known as Sabir), the pidgin language that people around the Levant and the eastern Mediterranean Sea used as the main language of commerce and diplomacy from late See more

• Rosetta Stone
• Global language system
• International auxiliary language
• Koiné language See more

• "English – the universal language on the Internet?".
• "Lingua franca del Mediterraneo o Sabir of professor Francesco Bruni (in Italian)". Archived from See more

The term is well established in its naturalization to English and so major dictionaries do not italicize it as a "foreign" term. See more

Historical lingua francas
The use of lingua francas has existed since antiquity.
Akkadian (died out during Classical antiquity) … See more

• Hall, R.A. Jr. (1966). Pidgin and Creole Languages. Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-0173-9.
• Heine, Bernd (1970). Status and Use of African Lingua Francas. ISBN 3-8039-0033-6.
• Kahane, Henry Romanos (1958). The Lingua Franca in the Levant. See more