providedlanguage

Providedlanguage is a term used in discussions of multilingual systems to denote the language that is supplied as input by a user or source. It serves as a label for the language that must be processed, translated, or interpreted, and is often treated as synonymous with “source language” or “input language.” Because it is not a formal standard, writers may use alternative phrasing such as sourceLanguage, inputLanguage, or a language code like en or fr.

In machine translation and localization workflows, the provided language guides the selection of models, dictionaries, and rules tailored to that language. In natural language processing pipelines, it informs tokenization, morphology handling, and language-specific preprocessing. In software libraries or APIs, a parameter commonly named providedLanguage may determine locale-sensitive behavior, resource loading, or the choice of language-specific adapters.

The concept is sometimes contrasted with target language, which is the intended output language, or with locale, which adds regional variants. Because providedlanguage is not a standardized term, its meaning can vary by domain or project, potentially causing ambiguity. Users and developers should clarify whether it refers to the input or source language, and how it interacts with other language parameters.

See also: source language, input language, target language, locale, language code.