xenolects

Noun

xenolect (plural xenolects)

1. A language variety that bears a superficial resemblance to another larger language, but which differs at a fundamental structural level.
   • The "other dialect" may not need a special term for it, since it is the structurally unmarked, frame-of-reference variety which may be taken as defining that which is "normal" in the xenolect as well. But were a term to be needed for the non-xenolectal dialect(s), an appropriate one might be...1989, Ofelia García, Ricardo Otheguy, English across Cultures. Cultures across English, →ISBN