mother tongue
First learned speech
A mother tongue is the language a person learns from birth or earliest childhood, typically from their parents.
It is also called a native language or first language.
The term evokes the intimate, familial transmission of language—the tongue your mother spoke to you.
Someone may have more than one mother tongue if raised in a multilingual household.
Her mother tongue is Tagalog, but she learned English in school.
Language of one's ancestors
- birthrightEntitlement from origin
- rootsUnderground nutrient absorbers
- ancestryFamily line of descent
- cultureCollective social practices
ethnicity · identity · homeland · belonging · origin · lineage · inheritance · tradition
Everyday regional speech
- dialectRegional language variety
- idiomFixed phrase, opaque meaning
- syntaxRules for arranging words
- grammarLanguage's structural rules
phonology · vocabulary · lexicon · morphology · semantics · prosody · inflection · colloquialism
Proficiency in two languages
- multilingualismMultiple language proficiency
- language acquisitionDeveloping communication ability
- second languageTongue learned after childhood
- code-switchingAlternating between linguistic varieties
interference · dominant language · language maintenance · polyglot · diglossia
One who grew up speaking it
- fluencySmooth linguistic command
- proficiencySkilled performance level
- intuitionInstinctive immediate understanding
- instinctInnate behavioral tendency
ease · comfort · automaticity · innate · pronunciation · accent · intonation · rhythm
heritage language
Language of one's ancestors
- birthrightEntitlement from origin
- rootsUnderground nutrient absorbers
- ancestryFamily line of descent
culture · ethnicity · identity · homeland · belonging · origin · lineage · inheritance · tradition · customs
vernacular
Everyday regional speech
grammar · phonology · vocabulary · lexicon · morphology · semantics · prosody · inflection · colloquialism · patois
bilingualism
Proficiency in two languages
- multilingualismMultiple language proficiency
- language acquisitionDeveloping communication ability
- second languageTongue learned after childhood
code-switching · interference · dominant language · language maintenance · polyglot · diglossia
native speaker
One who grew up speaking it
- fluencySmooth linguistic command
- proficiencySkilled performance level
- intuitionInstinctive immediate understanding
instinct · ease · comfort · automaticity · innate · pronunciation · accent · intonation · rhythm · cadence
- cultural heritagefolklore, traditions, customs, folk music revival, museum collections
- homesicknesshomesick, homesickness, missing home, longing, yearning
- local pridehometown pride, civic pride, regional pride, community roots, state pride
- language typessign language, pidgin, creole, indigenous language, proto-language
- language varietiesdialect, idiolect, sociolect, vernacular, accent
- multilingual communitiesbilingual children, code-switching, heritage speakers, ethnic enclaves, Chinatown
mother tonguesecond language
Tongue learned after childhood
foreign language · third language · target language · auxiliary language · lingua franca
mother, tongue, motherly, motherhood, mothers, mothering, motherland, motherless, motherboard