Epilanguage
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A second language used regularly for some purpose or purposes (such as for scholarship and scientific research). countable, uncountable
"2006 Pascale Hummel, "Epilanguages: Beyond Idioms and Languages," Call for Participation, 10 May 2006. Somewhere between archiphonemes/archisemes and metalanguages, which could be considered semi-synonyms, the "epilanguages" are the linguistic realities and results generated by the use of a second language for scholarly and scientific purposes."
- 2 A more subconscious, self-imposed, form of metalanguage, determining the form in which a message will be uttered. countable, uncountable
"Gombert begins the volume by presenting evidence that in addition to explicit teaching of basic decoding skills, metalinguistic knowledge or epilanguage that children bring into reading is also important."
Example
More examples"2006 Pascale Hummel, "Epilanguages: Beyond Idioms and Languages," Call for Participation, 10 May 2006. Somewhere between archiphonemes/archisemes and metalanguages, which could be considered semi-synonyms, the "epilanguages" are the linguistic realities and results generated by the use of a second language for scholarly and scientific purposes."
Etymology
From epi- + language.
More for "epilanguage"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.