How a child's first language includes more than words
Tuesday, March 3, 2020 - 09:40
in Psychology & Sociology
This International Mother Language Day (Feb. 21), Canadians celebrated their multilingual heritage by recognizing flexible uses of languages. According to UNESCO, "Mother tongue or mother language refers to a child's first language, the language learned in the home from older family members." As a linguistic anthropologist who studies language use in diverse communities, I know that multilingualism is part of our general human capacity for language.