Polyglossia


Polyglossia is a noun that refers to the coexistence of multiple languages in one society or area. Polyglossia is mentioned in a 1965 paper in the journal Expository Times in characterizing the nature of speaking in tongues at Pentacostal church services in contrast with an alternative characterizationglossolalia. It was further used in a number of anthropology journals in the 1970s referencing multilingual communities in Malaysia, Singapore and the Caucasus region.
Polyglossia is a useful term for describing situations where more than two distinct varieties are used for clearly distinct purposes.