interlanguage

Definition

A language generated by a student of a foreign language that incorporates aspects of their native language and the target language.

Etymology

From inter- + language. In the language acquisition sense introduced by Larry Selinker in 1972.

Example Sentences

• "Trasyanka and Surzhyk are interlanguages: a Belarusian–Russian and a Ukrainian–Russian mixed language."
• "The learner's selection from his/her store of interlanguage rules is not haphazard but systematic and predictable, based as it is on his/her existing rule system in much the same way as the native speaker bases his/her speech on the internalized knowledge of the L1 system."
• "Latin used to be the European interlanguage. Currently English widely serves this purpose."