A world language (sometimes called a global language or, rarely, an international language) is a

language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

that is geographically widespread and makes it possible for members of different language communities to communicate. The term may also be used to refer to constructed

international auxiliary language An international auxiliary language (sometimes acronymized as IAL or contracted as auxlang) is a language meant for communication between people from different nations, who do not share a common first language. An auxiliary language is primarily a ...

s. English is the foremost world language and, by some accounts, the only one. Other languages that can be considered world languages include

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, French,

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

, although there is no clear academic consensus on the subject. Some writers consider

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

to have formerly been a world language.

Concept

Various definitions of the term ''world language'' have been proposed; there is no general consensus about which one is best. A definition proffered by Congolese linguist

Salikoko Mufwene Salikoko S. Mufwene is a linguist born in Mbaya-Lareme in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is the Edward Carson Waller Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, where he holds appointments in the Department of Linguisti ...

is "languages spoken as vernaculars or as lingua francas outside their homelands and by populations other than those ethnically or nationally associated with them". Linguist Mohamed Benrabah equates the term ''world language'' with what Dutch sociologist Abram de Swaan refers to as "supercentral languages" in his

global language system The global language system is the "ingenious pattern of connections between language groups". Dutch sociologist Abram de Swaan developed this theory in 2001 in his book ''Words of the World: The Global Language System'' and according to him, "the ...

. Spanish sociolinguist Clare Mar-Molinero proposes a series of tests that a language needs to pass, relating to demographics, attitudes towards the language, and political, legal, economic, scientific, technological, academic, educational, and cultural domains. German sociolinguist says that what determines whether something is a world language is its "global function", which is to say its use for global communication, in particular between people who do not share it as a native language and with use as a

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

—i.e. in communication where it is not the native language of ''any'' of the participants—carrying the most weight. Ammon formulates a series of indicators of globality, i.e. factors useful for assessing the extent to which a given language can be considered a world language. Chief among these indicators is the number of non-native speakers. Another indicator is the number of native speakers, which although it is not in itself a criterion for globality, empirically correlates positively with it and may influence it indirectly by making the language more attractive. Other potential indicators are economic strength (measured as the native speakers'

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performance o ...

), number of countries that use the language as an

official language An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishmen ...

as well as those countries' geographical distribution, international business use, and prevalence in scientific publications. The term ''world language'' is also sometimes used in a different sense to refer to constructed

s such as

Esperanto Esperanto (, ) is the world's most widely spoken Constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (), it is intended to be a universal second language for ...

Possible examples

Arabic

has been described by

as a world language—albeit a second-tier one after English and French due to limited use as a lingua franca—on the grounds that is a

liturgical language A sacred language, liturgical language or holy language is a language that is cultivated and used primarily for religious reasons (like church service) by people who speak another, primary language in their daily lives. Some religions, or part ...

amongst

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

communities worldwide. Mohamed Benrabah criticizes this argument, writing that "Rote learning and reciting Koranic verses for daily prayers does not necessarily yield spoken proficiency", but nevertheless categorizes it as a world language on the grounds of it being a supercentral language in de Swaan's global language system.

English

Academic consensus is that English is a world language, with authors such as British linguists

David Crystal David Crystal, (born 6 July 1941) is a British linguist who works on the linguistics of the English language. Crystal studied English at University College London and has lectured at Bangor University and the University of Reading. He was aw ...

and

David Graddol David Graddol (1953 – 1 March 2019) was a British linguist who worked in applied linguistics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, and history of linguistics. He died on 1 March 2019. Research interest He was perhaps best known for his 1997 ...

considering it the only one. Authors who take a pluralist approach nevertheless consider English to inhabit a unique position as the foremost world language; for instance, in de Swaan's global language system, English is the sole occupant of the highest position in the hierarchy: the ''hypercentral'' language. According to German sociolinguist , " ere is virtually no descriptive parameter or indicator for the international or global rank of a language which, if applied to today's languages worldwide, does not place English at the top". Ammon and Mufwene both posit that what sets English apart as the foremost world language is its use as a lingua franca, whereas Crystal focuses on its geographical distribution.

French

French has been described as a world language due to its status as a supercentral language in de Swaan's global language system, and Mufwene characterizes it as such based on it being spoken as a lingua franca or

vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

by people neither ethnically nor nationally associated with it outside of France.

Latin

Some authors consider

to have formerly been a world language.

Russian

has been categorized as a world language on the grounds of being a supercentral language in de Swaan's global language system, and is characterised as a world language by Mufwene on the grounds that it is used as a vernacular or lingua franca outside of Russia by non-Russians.

Spanish

has been categorized as a world language on the grounds of being a supercentral language in de Swaan's global language system, and is considered a world language by German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon as it is spoken as a foreign language worldwide. Mufwene also considers it a world language—albeit a second-tier one after English and French due to limited use as a lingua franca—on the grounds that it is used as a vernacular by people neither ethnically nor nationally associated with it outside of Spain.