Lexifier

A lexifier is the language that provides the basis for the majority of a pidgin or creole language's vocabulary (lexicon). Often, the language is also the dominant language, or superstrate, but that is not always the case, as can be seen in the historical Mediterranean Lingua Franca. In mixed languages, there are no superstrates or substrates but instead two or more adstrates. One adstrate still contributes the majority of the lexicon in most cases and would be considered the lexifier. However, it is not the dominant language, as there are none in the development of mixed languages, such as in Michif.

Pidgin and creole language names are often written as the following: Location spoken + Stage of Development + Lexifier language. For example: Malaysian Creole Portuguese, with Portuguese being the lexifier and the superstrate language at the time of the creole development.

Often the autoglossonym, or the name the speakers give their contact language, is written Broken + Lexifier, e.g. Broken English. This becomes confusing when multiple contact languages have the same lexifier, as different languages could be called the same name by their speakers. Hence, the names are as stated above in the literature to reduce this confusion.

The word lexifier is derived from the modern Latin word lexicon, meaning a catalogue of the vocabulary or units in a given language.^{[failed verification]}