Koiné language

In linguistics, a koiné language, koiné dialect, or simply koiné (Ancient Greek κοινή, "common [language]") is a standard or common language or dialect that has arisen as a result of the contact, mixing, and often simplification of two or more mutually intelligible varieties of the same language. As speakers already understood one another before the advent of the koiné, the process of koineization is not as drastic as pidginization and creolization. Unlike pidginization and creolization, there is no "target" in koineization, which thus involves continuity in that speakers do not need to abandon their own linguistic varieties. The normal influence between neighbouring dialects is not regarded as koineization. A koiné variety emerges as a new spoken variety in addition to the originating dialects. It does not change any existing dialect, which distinguishes koineization from the normal evolution of dialects. While similar to zonal auxiliary languages, koiné languages arise naturally, rather than being constructed. The term koine, meaning "common" in Greek, was first used to refer to the form of Greek used as a lingua franca during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. It arose as a mixed vernacular among ordinary people in the Peiraieus, the seaport of Athens, which was inhabited by Greeks from different parts of the Mediterranean. Koineization brings new dialect varieties about as a result of contact between speakers of mutually intelligible varieties of that language. Koineization is a particular case of dialect contact, and it typically occurs in new settlements, to which people have migrated from different parts of a single language area. Koineization typically takes two or three generations to complete, but it can be achievable within the first generation. Language variation is systematic in that it can be related to social divisions within a community, such as class and gender. Change can be shown to originate with particular social groups based on those divisions.