English

Alternative forms

• protolanguage

Noun

proto-language ‎(plural proto-languages)

1. (linguistics) A language which is reconstructed by examining similarities in existing languages to try to deduce what a common ancestor language, no longer known, would have been like.
2. (linguistics) The early utterances produced by an infant before it acquires true language.

Synonyms

• ur-language

Translations

See also

• reconstructed language