native tongue
Language from birth
A native tongue is the language a person learns first, usually in infancy from parents or caregivers.
It's synonymous with mother tongue and first language.
The phrase emphasizes the deep, instinctive connection between a person and the language they grew up speaking: English isn't her native tongue, but you'd never know it.
- dialectRegional language variety
- languageSystem of symbolic communication
- vernacularEveryday regional speech
- language preservationMaintaining endangered native tongues
- heritage languageLanguage of one's ancestors
oral tradition · code-switching · language identity · language acquisition · endangered languages · ancestral language · fluency · broken English · traditional storytelling · spoken word · ceremonial speech · lullabies · family recipes · mother language · bedtime stories · homeland · foreign · bilingualism
- cultural heritagefolklore, traditions, customs, folk music revival, museum collections
- 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
- culturemusic taste, beliefs, food preferences, custom, festivals
- languagelanguage, word, words, grammar, spelling
native tonguesecond language
Tongue learned after childhood
foreign language · target language · third language · lingua franca
native tongueforeign tongue
Non-native mode of speech
alien language · lingua franca · colonial language · trade language · working language
native, tongue, tongues, natives, nativity, natively, mother tongue, native speakers, native land