Matrilect
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The language of the dominant local culture, in the situation where a pidgin or creole is formed from the language of the dominant culture and another outside introduced language.
"However, as a satellect moves closer to its matrilect, it would seem as though the reverse process should take place: the rules should become more restrictive, less simple. The speakers would at first over-generalize; they would have rules which would permit utterances which were outside the limits of acceptability in the matrilect. Such rules would have to be restricted as the satellect approached its matrilect."
- 2 The idiolect of the mother or the mother's clan in a household where the mother and the father speak different idiolects.
"The Tariana preference to speak in matrilect to mother’s relatives, as reported by Aikhenvald, provides a strong comparative starting point for continued research on the norms of appropriate language use among Arawak Tariana and East Tukano speakers."
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"However, as a satellect moves closer to its matrilect, it would seem as though the reverse process should take place: the rules should become more restrictive, less simple. The speakers would at first over-generalize; they would have rules which would permit utterances which were outside the limits of acceptability in the matrilect. Such rules would have to be restricted as the satellect approached its matrilect."
Etymology
From matri- + -lect.
More for "matrilect"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.