A lingua franca is any set of language words and constructs that are agreed upon by a set of people. For example, for academics it is lingua franca to say of one of Pierre Bordieu’s theories (as I once read) that it “exerts its historicity.” Perhaps a clearer example would be that Arabic is spoken in some African countries where tribal languages are many. Obviously, Arabic is not the native language, but it is a lingua franca that can be used for two people speaking different languages to understand each other.
