Standard Lemma guide

epilanguage

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A second language used regularly for some purpose or purposes (such as for scholarship and scientific research).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

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.
  • 2009 Claudia Stancati, "‘Mais j’en écrirai en latin’. Latin as an 'Epilanguage' in Descartes’ Philosophy," in Pascale Hummel (ed.), Epilanguages: Beyond Idioms and Languages, Philogicum, Paris, 2009. In a letter to an unknown person, in which he discussed some things dealt with in the fifth meditation, he showed this "epilinguistic" use of Latin compared to French, which we have just talked about: ...
  • 2012 Australian Research Council, Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, "Languages of Emotion: Concepts, Codes, Communities," Collaboratory held at the University of Western Australia, 24th and 25th August 2012. Finally, we might consider the emotional investment of certain groups in the use of particular languages or 'epilanguages'.
  • 2013 Juraj Dolník, "Čeština ako necudzí jazyk v slovenskom prostredí" (Czech as a non-foreign language in the Slovak milieu), Studia Academica Slovaca 42, 2013:127-138. It is argued that the Czech is an epilanguage of the Slovaks, i.e. a concomitant phenomenon of their mother tongue.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A more subconscious, self-imposed, form of metalanguage, determining the form in which a message will be uttered.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: education, human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

Examples

  • 2006 Che Kan Leong, "Making explicit children’s implicit epilanguage in learning to read Chinese," in P. Li, H.T. Li, E. Bates & O.J.L. Tzeng (eds.), The Handbook of East Asian psychology, pp. 70-80. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. In making explicit their implicit knowledge of epilanguage within a developmental context, children continually restructure their internal representation of language in order to integrate isolated procedures into a system (Karmiloff-Smith, 1986).

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From epi- + language.

Across languages

Translations

2 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • French: épilangue — Translations
  • Portuguese: epilinguagem — Translations