polyglossian.
/ˌpɒlɪˈɡlɒsɪə/, U.S. /ˌpɑliˈɡlɔsiə/, /ˌpɑliˈɡlɑsiə/ Linguistics.
The coexistence of two or more languages, or distinct varieties of the same language, within a speech community.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > a language > using or speaking languages > [noun] > trilingualism or multilingualism
polyglottology1658
polyglottery1834
pantoglottism1848
polyglottism1852
polyglossy1910
multilingualism1916
plurilingualism1934
trilingualism1934
polylingualism1939
polyglossia1975
the mind > language > a language > using or speaking languages > [noun] > bilingualism > use of two forms of the same language
bilingualism1940
polyglossia1975
1975 Internat. Migration Rev. 9 350 The language differences involved in all this are considerable, quite sufficient to justify the term ‘diglossia’ (two languages) or even ‘polyglossia’ (several languages).
1985 Amer. Speech 60 163 They all deal with polyglossia in the USA and the need for speakers of nonstandard varieties to vary their speech features in different situations.
2000 M. Bakhtin in D. Lodge & N. Wood Mod. Crit. &Theory (ed. 2) vi. 124 The speech diversity within language thus has primary importance for the novel. But this speech diversity achieves its full creative consciousness only under conditions of an active polyglossia.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1975