lexifier

English

Etymology

lexify +‎ -er

Noun

lexifier (plural lexifiers)

1. (linguistics, lexicography) The language of a pidgin or creole that serves as the basis for most of its vocabulary.
   • 2018, John H. McWhorter, The Creole Debate, Cambridge University Press, page 9:

     A great deal of linguistic evidence reveals that creole creators transformed the lexifier in a fashion unexplainable as just hybridization, but well known from studies of pidginization and second-language acquisition.

Derived terms

• English-lexifier

Related terms

• lexified