Why do we call the first language we learn as babies our mother tongue? Our first language, native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period - that ideal time window in our brain development.
"There is a spirit or an originating genius belonging to each word." ~ Louise Erdrich.
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| clouds over Negros Island |
There is power in words - the older these words, the more energy they contain. No wonder we are enriched by our ancestral tongue - the mother's milk of our native language.
