Dictionary

pseudolanguage en · NOUN

Pronunciation

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Etymology

From pseudo- + language.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Something written or spoken that resembles language but is not a true language.
   • The existence of such pseudolanguages as pidgin in south-east Asia and the "Spanglish" found in Puerto Rico is due to the total absence of the coercive dimension[…] 2000, Andrew Chesterman, Natividad Gallardo San Salvador, Yves Gambier, Translation in Context, page 76:
   • Some mediums have spoken in elaborate pseudolanguages while in a state of trance. 1991, Leslie Shepard, Lewis Spence, Nandor Fodor, Encyclopedia of occultism and parapsychology, page 540:
2. (countable) A means of describing an algorithm in human terms, without the use of a true programming language.
   • State what will be printed by the following code fragment written in a pseudolanguage permitting reference parameters (assume Y and J are passed by reference). 2010, Maurizio Gabbrielli, Simone Martini, Programming Languages: Principles and Paradigms, page 194:

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