The Mediterranean Lingua Franca, or Sabir, was a
pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...
language that was used as a
lingua franca
A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...
in the
Mediterranean Basin
In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin (; also known as the Mediterranean Region or sometimes Mediterranea) is the region of lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate, with mild to cool, rainy winters and wa ...
from the 11th to the 19th centuries.
Etymology
''Lingua franca'' meant literally "
Frankish language
Frankish ( reconstructed endonym: *), also known as Old Franconian or Old Frankish, was the West Germanic language spoken by the Franks from the 5th to 9th century.
After the Salian Franks settled in Roman Gaul, its speakers in Picardy ...
" in
Late Latin
Late Latin ( la, Latinitas serior) is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the , and continuing into the 7th century in t ...
, and it originally referred specifically to the language that was used around the
Eastern Mediterranean Sea as the main
language of commerce. However, the term "Franks" was actually applied to
all Western Europeans during the late
Byzantine Period
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
.
Later, the meaning of ''lingua franca'' expanded to mean any
bridge language. Its other name in the Mediterranean area was ''Sabir'', a term cognate of ("to know") in most Iberian languages and of Italian and French .
Origins
Based mostly on Northern Italy's languages (mainly
Venetian
Venetian often means from or related to:
* Venice, a city in Italy
* Veneto, a region of Italy
* Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area
Venetian and the like may also refer to:
* Venetian language, a Romance language s ...
and
Genoese) and secondarily from
Occitano-Romance languages
The Occitano-Romance or Gallo-Narbonnese ( ca, llengües occitanoromàniques; oc, lengas occitanoromanicas), or rarely East Iberian, is a branch of the Romance language group that encompasses the Catalan/ Valencian and Occitan languages spoken ...
(
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
and
Occitan) in the western Mediterranean area at first, Lingua Franca later came to have more
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
and
Portuguese elements, especially on the
Barbary Coast (now referred to as the
Maghreb
The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...
). Lingua Franca also borrowed from
Berber
Berber or Berbers may refer to:
Ethnic group
* Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa
* Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages
Places
* Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile
People with the surname
* Ady Berber (1913–19 ...
,
Turkish,
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
,
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
and
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
.
The grammar of the language used aspects from many of its lexifiers. Infinitive was used for all verb forms and the lexicon was primarily
Italo-Romance, with a Spanish interface. As in Arabic, vowel space was reduced, and Venetian influences can be seen in the dropping of certain vowels and intervocalic stops.
History
This mixed language was used widely for commerce and diplomacy and was also current among slaves of the
bagnio
Bagnio is a loan word into several languages (from it, bagno). In English, French, and so on, it has developed varying meanings: typically a brothel, bath-house, or prison for slaves.
In reference to the Ottoman Empire
The origin of this sens ...
,
Barbary pirates
The Barbary pirates, or Barbary corsairs or Ottoman corsairs, were Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Salé, Rabat, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli. This area was known in Europe ...
and European renegades in precolonial
Algiers
Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques d ...
. Historically, the first to use it were the
Genoese and Venetian trading colonies in the eastern Mediterranean after the year 1000.
The similarities contribute to discussions of the classification of Lingua Franca as a language. Although its official classification is that of a pidgin, some scholars adamantly oppose that classification and believe it would be better viewed as an
interlanguage
An interlanguage is an idiolect that has been developed by a learner of a second language (L2) which preserves some features of their first language (L1), and can also overgeneralize some L2 writing and speaking rules. These two characteristic ...
of Italian.
Hugo Schuchardt Hugo Ernst Mario Schuchardt (4 February 1842, Gotha ( Thuringia) – 21 April 1927, Graz (Styria)) was an eminent German linguist, best known for his work in the Romance languages, the Basque language, and in mixed languages, including pidgins, ...
(1842–1927) was the first scholar to investigate the Lingua Franca systematically. According to the
monogenetic theory of the origin of pidgins that he developed, Lingua Franca was known by Mediterranean sailors including the Portuguese. When the
Portuguese started exploring the seas of Africa, America, Asia and Oceania, they tried to communicate with the natives by mixing a
Portuguese-influenced version of Lingua Franca with the local languages. When English or French ships came to compete with the Portuguese, the crews tried to learn the "broken Portuguese". A process of
relexification In linguistics, relexification is a mechanism of language change by which one language changes much or all of its lexicon, including basic vocabulary, with the lexicon of another language, without drastically changing the relexified language's g ...
caused the Lingua Franca and Portuguese
lexicon
A lexicon is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Greek word (), neuter of () meaning 'of or fo ...
to be substituted by the languages of the peoples in contact.
The theory is one way of explaining the similarities between most of the European-based pidgins and
creole language
A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable natural language that develops from the simplifying and mixing of different languages into a new one within a fairly brief period of time: often, a pidgin evolved into a full-fledged language. ...
s, such as
Tok Pisin
Tok Pisin (,Laurie Bauer, 2007, ''The Linguistics Student’s Handbook'', Edinburgh ; Tok Pisin ), often referred to by English speakers as "New Guinea Pidgin" or simply Pidgin, is a creole language spoken throughout Papua New Guinea. It is an ...
,
Papiamento
Papiamento () or Papiamentu (; nl, Papiaments) is a Portuguese-based creole language spoken in the Dutch Caribbean. It is the most widely spoken language on the Caribbean ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao), with official status in Arub ...
,
Sranan Tongo
Sranan Tongo (also Sranantongo "Surinamese tongue," Sranan, Surinaams, Surinamese, Surinamese Creole) is an English-based creole language that is spoken as a ''lingua franca'' by approximately 550,000 people in Suriname.
Developed originally amo ...
,
Krio and
Chinese Pidgin English
Chinese Pidgin English (also called Chinese Coastal English or Pigeon English; ) is a pidgin language lexically based on English, but influenced by a Chinese substratum. From the 17th to the 19th centuries, there was also Chinese Pidgin Engl ...
. Those languages use forms similar to ''sabir'' for 'to know' and ''piquenho'' for "children".
Lingua Franca left traces in present Algerian slang and
Polari
Polari () is a form of slang or cant used in Britain and Ireland by some actors, circus and fairground showmen, professional wrestlers, merchant navy sailors, criminals, sex workers and the gay subculture. There is some debate about its origi ...
. There are traces even in geographical names, such as
Cape Guardafui, which literally means "Cape Look and Escape" in Lingua Franca and ancient Italian.
Debate
Many aspects of Lingua Franca are still largely up for debate and different scholars have different opinions. That is because Lingua Franca was a primarily oral language, with some accounts of it and examples in literature, but very little by way of real examples of the language in use. That may also reflect the language's unfixed and changing nature.
Debated aspects are the language's classification and the origin of the term "lingua franca".
Although the language is officially classified as a pidgin, some scholars argue that to be inaccurate and pointing instead toward an interlanguage of Italian or a
koiné language
In linguistics, a koiné language, koiné dialect, or simply koiné (Ancient Greek κοινή, "common anguage) is a standard or common language or dialect that has arisen as a result of the contact, mixing, and often simplification of two o ...
.
Alternate origins for the term lingua franca include its translation as "free language", perhaps referring to free trade, or a translation from Arabic meaning "Latin language" or "trade language". It has also been translated to mean "Venetician" or "western language" or simply to mean "French language".
Sample text
A sample of Sabir is found in
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...
's
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
''
Le Bourgeois gentilhomme''.
with a translation in English At the start of the "Turkish ceremony", the Mufti
A Mufti (; ar, مفتي) is an Islamic jurist qualified to issue a nonbinding opinion (''fatwa'') on a point of Islamic law (''sharia''). The act of issuing fatwas is called ''iftāʾ''. Muftis and their ''fatwas'' played an important role ...
enters singing the following words:
Se ti sabir
Ti respondir
Se non sabir
Tazir, tazir
Mi star Mufti:
Ti qui star ti?
Non intendir:
Tazir, tazir.
A comparison of the Sabir version with the same text in each of similar languages, first a word-for-word substitution according to the rules of Sabir grammar and then a translation inflected according to the rules of the similar language's grammar, can be seen below:
The Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Galician, Portuguese, Provençal, French, and Latin versions are not correct grammatically, as they use the infinitive
Infinitive ( abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The word is de ...
rather than inflected verb forms, but the Sabir form is obviously derived from the infinitive in those languages. There are also differences in the particular Romance copula, with Sabir using a derivative of rather than of . The correct version for each language is given in italics.
See also
* African Romance
African Romance or African Latin is an extinct Romance language that was spoken in the Roman province of Africa by the Roman Africans during the later Roman and early Byzantine Empires, and several centuries after the annexation of the region by ...
* Mozarabic language
Mozarabic, also called Andalusi Romance, refers to the medieval Romance varieties spoken in the Iberian Peninsula in territories controlled by the Islamic Emirate of Córdoba and its successors. They were the common tongue for the majority of ...
* Lingua Franca Nova
Notes
Bibliography
* Brown, Joshua. 2022. "On the Existence of a Mediterranean Lingua Franca and the Persistence of Language Myths". ''Language Dynamics in the Early Modern Period'' (edited by Karen Bennett and Angelo Cattaneo). London: Routledge, pp. 169–189. .
* Dakhlia, Jocelyne, ''Lingua Franca – Histoire d'une langue métisse en Méditerranée'', Actes Sud, 2008, .
* John A. Holm, ''Pidgins and Creoles'', Cambridge University Press, 1989, , p. 607.
* Henry Romanos Kahane, ''The Lingua Franca in the Levant: Turkish Nautical Terms of Italian and Greek Origin'', University of Illinois, 1958.
* Hugo Schuchardt Hugo Ernst Mario Schuchardt (4 February 1842, Gotha ( Thuringia) – 21 April 1927, Graz (Styria)) was an eminent German linguist, best known for his work in the Romance languages, the Basque language, and in mixed languages, including pidgins, ...
,
The Lingua Franca
. ''Pidgin and Creole languages: selected essays by Hugo Schuchardt'' (edited and translated by Glenn G. Gilbert), Cambridge University Press, 1980. .
* Nolan, Joanna. 2020. ''The Elusive Case of Lingua Franca''. Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.
* Drusteler, Eric R. 2012. "Speaking in Tongues: Language and communication in the Early Modern Mediterranean." ''Past and Present'' 217: 4-77. .
* Hitchcock, Louise A., and Aren M. Maeir. 2016. "A Pirate's Life for me: The Maritime culture of the Sea Peoples." ''Palestine Exploration Quarterly'' 148(4):245-264.
* Lang, George. 1992. "The Literary Settings of Lingua Franca (1300-1830)." ''Neophilologus'' 76(1): 64-76. .
* Operstein, Natalie. 2018. "Inflection in Lingua Franca: from Haedo's ''Topographia'' to the ''Dictionnaire de la langue franque''." ''Morphology'' 28: 145-185. .
External links
Dictionnaire de la Langue Franque ou Petit Mauresque
1830.
', fifth edition, 2005, Alan D. Corré. It includes articles about the language from various authors and sample texts.
Tales in Sabir from Algeria
Lingua franca in the Mediterranean (Google book)
{{Languages of Sicily
Pidgins and creoles
Languages of Algeria
Languages of Tunisia
Languages of Sicily
Extinct languages of Africa
Extinct languages of Europe
Italian language
Romance languages
History of the Mediterranean
Languages attested from the 11th century
Languages extinct in the 19th century