killer language
English edit
Etymology edit
The phrase was first used by Anne Pakir in 1991 in reference to English.
Noun edit
killer language (plural killer languages)
- (linguistics) A dominant and prestigious language which gradually causes extinction of other, especially minor languages.
- 2012, Danny Hieber, Mises Daily, Why Do Languages Die?[1]:
- It is only when the state adopts a trade language as official and, in a fit of linguistic nationalism, foists it upon its citizens, that trade languages become "killer languages."