mislöngu
Mislöngu is a sociolinguistic concept used to describe the phenomenon of listeners misidentifying a speaker’s actual language in real-time communication, often in multilingual settings. It refers to the mistaken labeling of an utterance as belonging to a language different from the speaker’s intended or actual language, driven by context, expectation, or bias.
Etymology and usage: the term appears to be a neologism formed from a prefix suggesting error (mis-)
Mechanisms and factors: mislöngu arises from a combination of phonetic cues, accent, code-switching, lexical borrowings, and
Implications: in research, mislöngu is employed to examine language attitudes, identity signaling, and the reliability of
Status and critique: mislöngu is largely a theoretical or exploratory concept rather than a widely standardized