Beyond lingua franca – Sanskrit, Classical Arabic, Latin and now English: COSMO-SHIFT

About the Research Project

The COSMO_SHIFT research program aims to identify the criteria, linguistic and socio-cultural, by which a language may be said to have become a lingua cosmopolitana, and to assess the status of English in these terms.  Lingua cosmopolitana is defined as a ‘mega-language’, one that has evolved to allow communication between different areas and expanded to become a world language, such as Latin, classical Arabic, or Sanskrit. Unlike lingua franca, a practical common language for intergroup communication, lingua cosmopolitana is proposed as a new linguistic category. 

Impact 

The project aims to: 

• describe cosmopolitanisation as a distinct pathway of languages in long-term, non-native language use
• examine English as becoming a lingua cosmopolitana 

Partners

• European Research Council (ERC)
• University of Klagenfurt