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:

    “I now thinke, Love is rather deafe, than blind,
    For else it could not be,
    That she,
    Whom I adore so much, should so slight me,
    And cast my love behind:
    I’m sure my language to her, was as sweet,
    And every close did meet
    In sentence, of as subtile feet,
    As hath the youngest Hee,”
    —Ben Jonson (1572–1637)