inputLanguage

InputLanguage is a concept used in software to denote the natural language that a user is expected to input into a text field or input component. It helps systems tailor text-related processing, including spell checking, hyphenation, autocorrect, and the selection or configuration of input methods.

In many UI toolkits and apps, inputLanguage is exposed as a per-control or per-form property. When set, it can influence which keyboard layout or input method editor (IME) is offered to the user and guide downstream text processing such as tokenization, language detection, and locale-sensitive formatting.

Input language is related but not identical to language and locale. Language identifies the linguistic system (for example en or fr), while locale encodes cultural conventions such as date formats. Input language, by contrast, specifies the language context for user-entered text and associated input methods.

Practical considerations include platform support, user overrides, and fallbacks. If the requested input language is unavailable, the system may fall back to a default. Developers should ensure accessibility and avoid breaking input when the value is missing or incorrect.