Mother tongue and cultural DNA
by Carolina - Tesol
October 9, 2014
Have you ever asked yourself why we call the first language acquired by a person MOTHER TONGUE? Other expressions used to refer to the language a person first hears and uses to communicate since an early age are: mother language, first language, native language, arterial language.
Merriam-Webster dictionary, in its online version, defines mother tongue as
1: the language that a person learns to speak first / one’s native language
2: a language from which another language derives
Although there are nuances that distinguish them, ultimately all of these refer to the mother tongue. It is so called because during all of human history the passing down, or teaching of, customs, traditions, and languages were the duties and responsibility of the mother. Today this responsibility is no longer exclusively of motherhood. Today grandparents, caretakers, schools, and most importantly, fathers, play an important and active role in helping raise a child. So the term (mother tongue) seems to lose relevance. Perhaps we should call it parent-tongue, or main-tongue, or simply: core-language.
Considering that we all live in a dynamic and multicultural world, being fluent only in the mother tongue might not be enough to meet the needs of communication. As a consequence of globalization, English has become the lingua franca. Migratory fluxes are accelerating, mobility patterns are changing, business must be conducted between different nations, politicians and statespersons must address universal issues and promote common efforts, and students and workers are increasingly mobile in search of better opportunities. In a world where English is almost unanimously accepted as the world language, and is increasingly being used by non-native speakers, one has to ask: what role do mother tongues still play in this scenario?
Language is the tool we have to communicate, express feelings, share ideas, negotiate meaning, relate to other people, advocate for causes, search for justice, debate important issues, and so many other purposes. The mother tongue is the first resource a human being has to do so. It is permeated by culture, values, customs, norms, habits, specific meanings, and emotion. From this perspective, what does a language learner lose when s/he learns a second, third or fourth language? How much does one lose by putting aside his/her own mother tongue on behalf of another language? Is it only the language itself that is being ignored and literally lost?
One may questions: if a person is led to adopt a language other than his/her mother tongue, for whatever reasons, and consequently ends up neglecting his/her own roots, how long will it be before this person modifies his/her culture? Values? Beliefs? Is it possible to keep the traditions, language and emotional bonds of the mother tongue and still be able to cope with the high input and impact of other languages and cultures?
I was born and raised in a very culturally mixed environment. I was born in Brazil, from a German mother and a Polish father. I consider my mother tongue Portuguese, and after I acquired it, I was formally and informally exposed to Polish, German, English and Italian. However, even having a German speaking mother and a Polish speaking father, and having learned a fourth language, I consider myself proficient and 100% fluent in Portuguese, which is not strictly speaking my mother tongue. I should call it my birth-imposed-tongue, or environment-tongue, or proficiency-tongue. Brazilian culture and the Portuguese language are embedded in my personality. Where did the German and the Polish affective bonds, cultural background, language, traditions go to?
I have to admit that most aspects of these two languages (that were supposed to be my mother tongue, with German, and father tongue, with Polish) were slowly and imperceptibly left behind on behalf of other languages that seemed more important, or more useful thus far in my life. I do not have a family connection to English or Italian but at some point in my life, they became a priority to be learned and overcame the need, or interest, or emotional bond that I had with the other two languages.
Rather than see these facts as a mistake I may have made (not maintaining fluency n Polish and German), or viewing them as incorrect options in favor of Portuguese, English and some Italian, I would prefer to think of the situation as a result of circumstances that at the moment did not seem important to me.
Who can measure or evaluate the cultural and linguistic losses caused by such circumstances?
References:
Merriam Webster Dictionary – On Line version
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