Editing First language (section)

{{Short description|Language a person is exposed to from birth}}
{{Redirect-several|dab=no|First Language (journal){{!}}''First Language'' (journal)|Mother tongue (disambiguation)|Father tongue hypothesis|Native Speaker (disambiguation)}}
{{for|the hypothetical predecessor of all spoken languages|Proto-human language}}
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[[File:Ana Dili.JPG|thumb|upright=1.15|The monument to the mother tongue (''ana dili'') in [[Nakhchivan (city)|Nakhchivan]], Azerbaijan]]

A '''first language''' ('''L1'''), '''native language''', '''native tongue''', or '''mother tongue''' is the first [[language]] a person has been exposed to from birth<ref>Bloomfield, Leonard. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Gfrd-On5iFwC&dq Language] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117111057/https://books.google.com/books?id=Gfrd-On5iFwC&dq |date=17 January 2023 }} {{ISBN|81-208-1196-8}}</ref> or within the [[critical period hypothesis|critical period]]. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongue'' refers to the language of one's [[ethnic group]] rather than the individual's actual first language. Generally, to state a language as a mother tongue, one must have full native fluency in that language.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davies |first=Alan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JeTwQB5doD4C |title=The Native Speaker: Myth and Reality |date=2003 |publisher=Multilingual Matters |isbn=1-85359-622-1 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-date=17 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117111025/https://books.google.com/books?id=JeTwQB5doD4C |url-status=live }} {{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref>

The first language of a child is part of that child's personal, social and cultural identity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bisnet.or.id/vle/mod/resource/view.php?id=1663|title=Terri Hirst: The Importance of Maintaining a Childs First Language|website=bisnet.or.id|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312012655/http://bisnet.or.id/vle/mod/resource/view.php?id=1663|archive-date=12 March 2016|url-status=dead|access-date=13 July 2010}}</ref> Another impact of the first language is that it brings about the reflection and learning of successful social patterns of acting and speaking.{{clarify|date=May 2019}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boroditsky |first=Lera |date=2001 |title=Does language shape thought?: Mandarin and English speakers' conceptions of time |url=http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~lera/papers/mandarin.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Cognitive Psychology |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=1–22 |doi=10.1006/cogp.2001.0748 |pmid=11487292 |s2cid=5838599 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510152648/http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~lera/papers/mandarin.pdf |archive-date=10 May 2013 |access-date=17 September 2013 }}</ref> Research suggests that while a non-native speaker may develop fluency in a targeted language after about two years of immersion, it can take between five and seven years for that child to be on the same working level as their native speaking counterparts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=IRIS {{!}} Page 5: Language Acquisition |url=https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/clde/cresource/q2/p05/ |access-date=20 September 2022 |website=iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu |archive-date=20 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920173027/https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/clde/cresource/q2/p05/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 17 November 1999, [[UNESCO]] designated 21 February as [[International Mother Language Day]].