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The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1998
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Epic Interactive Encyclopedia, The - 1998 Edition (1998)(Epic Marketing).iso
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Lingua_franca
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1992-09-03
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639b
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16 lines
Italian `Frankish tongue' any language that
is used as a means of communication by groups
who do not themselves normally speak that
language; for example, English is a lingua
franca used by Japanese doing business in
Finland, or by Swedes in Saudi Arabia. The
name comes from the mixture of French,
Italian, Spanish, Greek, Turkish, and Arabic
that was spoken around the Mediterranean from
the time of the Crusades until the 18th
century. Many of the world's lingua francas
are pidgin languages; for example, Bazaar
Hindi (Hindustani), Bazaar Malay, and
Neo-Melanesian (also known as Tok Pisin), the
official language of Papua New Guinea.