Auxiliary Language

The term auxiliary language is a language which is not the primary or native language of a community. It may refer to:

  • an international auxiliary language, a planned, artificial language constructed for international communication, such as Esperanto
  • a local minority language which has official recognition
  • a liturgical language, such as Latin, Sanskrit, or Old Church Slavonic, used in religious services
  • a professional, trade, or otherwise secret language such as Kallawaya among Andean herbalists
  • an initiation language such as Damin in Australia
  • a language of ethnic identity such as Eskayan in the Philippines

Famous quotes containing the word language:

    “Man, even man debased by the neocapitalism and pseudosocialism of our time, is a marvelous being because he sometimes speaks. Language is the mark, the sign, not of his fall but of his original innocence. Through the Word we may regain the lost kingdom and recover powers we possessed in the far-distant past.”
    —Octavio Paz (b. 1914)