Language X within scope of language Y
Peter Constable
petercon at microsoft.com
Wed Jan 19 18:57:47 CET 2005
> From: John Cowan [mailto:jcowan at reutershealth.com]
> "Native" may be too strong, especially in languages of wider
communication
> that cross country boundaries. Swahili is probably a case of this:
> six out of seven speakers are non-native, and it is heavily used in
> several countries.
Fair enough, though coming up with a truly accurate definition that
deals with all sociolinguistic possibilities would be rather difficult.
Even allowing for L2 speakers it's not obvious how to express the right
idea. "FSI level 5 competency" comes to mind, but wouldn't mean much to
a lot of people.
Peter Constable
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