Koine

koine

Newly formed compromise language that usually arises from a leveling of features distinguishing dialects of a common base language, or of features distinguishing several closely related languages. The new language is hence deregionalized and does not reflect social or political dominance of any one group of speakers. The classical example of a koine (as well as the source of the term) is Hellenistic Greek, which developed from Attic Greek through replacement of the most distinctively Attic features by features of Ionic or other dialects. A koine may serve as a lingua franca and often forms the basis of a new standard language.

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Koine 

(1) Common Greek, which arose in the fourth century B.C. on the basis of the Attic dialect of ancient Greek with elements of the Ionian dialect. In the second half of the first millennium A.D., Koine broke up into a number of dialects which became the basis for the modern dialects of Greek.

(2) The language of communication of a group speaking related languages or dialects. As koine the group can use one of the related dialects or languages, a mixed dialect or language, a standardized literary form based on one or several dialects or languages, or an archaic form common to all the dialects or languages. The formation and concrete form of the koine is determined by the historical, geographic, economic, social, and other conditions of the development of the related dialects or languages.