Xenolect
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A language variety that bears a superficial resemblance to another larger language, but which differs at a fundamental structural level.
"The "other dialect" may not need a special term for it, since it is the structurally unmarked, frame-of-reference variety which may be taken as defining that which is "normal" in the xenolect as well. But were a term to be needed for the non-xenolectal dialect(s), an appropriate one might be matrilect, making up as it does the matrix in which a xenolect is embedded."
Example
More examples"The "other dialect" may not need a special term for it, since it is the structurally unmarked, frame-of-reference variety which may be taken as defining that which is "normal" in the xenolect as well. But were a term to be needed for the non-xenolectal dialect(s), an appropriate one might be matrilect, making up as it does the matrix in which a xenolect is embedded."
Etymology
From xeno- + -lect.
More for "xenolect"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.