native language

Noun

native language (plural native languages)

1. One's first language, learned in early childhood.
   • Mary Katharine, one of the things in California, kids apparently who speak English as a second language have a year in which they can take classes that are taught in their native language in addition to English, and some people would say that that should help them really get established and after...2007 November 23, on “Teaching Spanish; Holiday Debt”, John Gibson Show, Fox Radio

   Synonyms:

   mother language, mother tongue, native tongue

2. The language of a Native or Aboriginal people.
   • Mary Sarah Nelson, 93, is not the last of her tribe – there are four dozen left – but the last speaker of its language. The federal attempt to grant tax credits to Native American parents whose children prove fluent in Native languages has failed. When she switches from English to Eyak, there is a...2004, George Guthridge, “Nine Whispered Opinions Regarding the Alaskan Secession”, in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, volume 107, number 1, page 37
   • The irony of the Bibles and their translation into Native languages during the same period in which Native children were punished, even beaten, for speaking their language is another point left unexplored in the galleries of the NMAI.2006, Robin Maria DeLugan, “‘South of the Border’ at the NMAI”, in American Indian Quarterly, v 30, n 3/4 (fall), pp 558–573

   Synonyms:

   birthtongue