Homeland gives a person a lasting feeling of a calm, loving home. And people often call their native language the language they speak with their loved ones.
There is no clear concept of “native language” in modern sociolinguistics and ethnology. There are several different, sometimes opposing interpretations of this term. And the study of the meaning embedded in the concept of "native language" has long become interdisciplinary.
The disputes between linguistic scientists are more theoretical in nature, because in practice, more precisely, in life, everything is very clear. Most people consider their mother tongue the one spoken by their parents.
The closest to humans is the mother language. The one that the baby absorbs with breast milk. On which for the first time he pronounces the two most important words: "mom" and "dad." Scientists call it a language learned in childhood without special training. Or the first native language.
Then the child goes to school and begins to receive knowledge. Teachers, as a rule, speak and conduct lessons in the state language of the country where the person lives. All textbooks and teaching aids are written on it.
Such a language is common to students and adults around the child. It is spoken by statesmen and documents are issued. In this language, his name and surname are entered into the passport upon reaching adulthood.
Most of the time a person begins to speak this language, even if at home they speak another. Scientists call him the second native to man. Cases are described when the first native language in life changes to the one that is most often used by people.
The second opinion boils down to the fact that for most the mother tongue becomes the language in which they think. And they also write and talk effortlessly. This is the main language for communication and activities in society. His scientists call functionally the first language, that is, the language by which a person adapts to the surrounding society.
People can functionally know the first language even better than their first mother tongue, but at the same time be tied more precisely to the one they learned to speak.
The third interpretation of the term "native language" is the statement that the language of his ancestors will be native to a person. The language that identifies its belonging to a particular ethnic group, nationality.
The differences between the terms of linguists are very arbitrary, while for a simple person, the mother tongue will always be the one he loves the most. People’s habits change over time and circumstances, but preferences more often than not remain the same.
