ghost language
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.34 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
2
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A language which has lost its speakers.
noun
A posited natural language which does not actually exist.
Example Sentences
- "Of the 250 or so Aboriginal languages once spoken in Australia, two-thirds are extinct or moribund. Coastal languages were usually the first to go, with settlement patterns matching patterns of extinction. In Western Australia, the former of approximately 110 Aboriginal languages, 45 were presumed extinct, and another 30 were on the verge of extinction. Wajuk, the original language of Perth, was dead. Nyungar, the language of the southwestern tip of the continent, was gone. Mirning, the language of Eucla, had disappeared with barely a trace. Witjaari, once spoken north of Wajuk, was now a ghost language. And the list went on. I had come to a land of linguistic devastation."
Etymology
By analogy to ghost town.
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Linguistics.