alternatehistory.com

With any POD you like (before 1900, of course) have a language that IOTL became extinct become the lingua franca of commerce, diplomacy, and education to a similar degree that OTL English is.

For a language to qualify as "extinct" for the purposes of this AHC, it must be a language that disappears completely, not one that leaves behind linguistic descendants. Thus, whilst they both do not have native speakers, things like Latin and old Chinese do not qualify, since their descendants are still spoken today.

However, it may be a language that is still "known" in the present if neither it nor its linguistic descendants have native speakers. Coptic would be an example in this category.

Edit: POD's must ideally be before the extinction of the language--i.e. no resurrecting a language from the grave.
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