mother language
First language learned
Mother language is a person's first language—the one learned from birth, typically from one's mother or primary caregivers.
The term emphasizes the intimate, familial transmission of language: Her mother language was Vietnamese, though she grew up speaking English at school.
Also called mother tongue or native language.
- native landCountry of origin
- old countryImmigrant's ancestral homeland
- storyAccount of events
- homeOne's personal residence
- songMusical piece with words
family stories · identity · lullaby · speech · vernacular · voice · proverb · oral tradition · heritage · culture · immigrant experience · first words · native speaker · tradition · passing down · code-switching · folklore · expression
mother languagesecond language
Tongue learned after childhood
foreign language · target language · auxiliary language · third language · lingua franca
mother languageforeign tongue
Non-native mode of speech
colonial language · trade language · artificial language · Esperanto
mother languageforeign language
Another nation's speech
colonial language · lingua franca · trade language · official language
mother, language, mothers, motherly, motherhood, mothering, motherless, unmothered, languages