a. [See UNI- 1 and LINGUAL a., and cf. F. unilingue.] Pertaining to one language only; knowing or employing only one language.
Hence, in recent use, unilingualism.
1866. Visct. Strangford, Select. (1869), II. 18. In Crete, one of the most primitive and unilingual parts of the Levant.
1886. Standard, 8 Oct., 5. A good linguist has a pull … over his unilingual contemporary.
1888. H. A. Strong, trans. H. Paul’s Prin. Hist. Lang., § 692. 448. If one nation has a decided preponderance over the other, whether this be due to its size or to pre-eminence—political or industrial or intellectual—it will be found that the employment of its language will tend to spread at the expense of the other: there will be a gradual change from bilingualism again to unilingualism.
1894. Educat. Rev., VII. 190. The unilingual method … advocated by pedagogical writers.
