similect

English

Etymology

Coined by Anna Mauranen in a paper in 2012, from similar +‎ -lect, modelled on dialect, etc.

Noun

similect (plural similects)

1. (linguistics) A variety of a language spoken by people who have a different first language, with features transferred from the first language in parallel by individual speakers rather than by a cohesive group.
   • 2012, Anna Mauranen, Exploring ELF: Academic English Shaped by Non-native Speakers, page 29:

     We cannot simply equate the L1-based lects with dialects, but could speak of them instead as ‘similects’, because they arise in parallel, not in mutual interaction. In short, there is no community of similect speakers. Similects do not develop new features or new discourse practices in the same way that language communities do — in interaction, from one linguistic generation to another.

Usage notes

• Used by other authors after or alongside a caveat introducing the term as a coinage by Mauranen.