The Mother Tongue
Why Are “Mama” and “Papa” So Similar Across Many Languages?
If you love languages and have studied a few, you’ve probably noticed that the words "mama" and "papa" sound remarkably similar across many languages. Words like Mutter, mother, mama, mom, and mamă belong to the Indo-European language family, so their resemblance makes sense—they share a common linguistic origin.
But this theory doesn’t fully explain why similar words appear in languages much farther apart, such as Swahili, where we find mama and baba. So why do these words exist in so many unrelated languages?
It Might Not Be as Romantic as You Think…
It was the linguist Roman Jakobson (1896-1982) who first theorized why the words mama and papa are universal across languages and why, unlike many other words, they have remained unchanged over time.
In the late 1950s, Jakobson was among the first to link these terms to the earliest phonetic sounds made by infants as they begin experimenting with speech.
One of the first sounds that newborns produce is "aaa", simply because it is the easiest to pronounce: just open the mouth and release air. As babies naturally pause between sounds, they often do so by closing their lips, producing an "mm" sound—just like adults do in normal speech. This makes it very easy for an infant to pronounce the combination of “m” and “a,” creating the familiar “ma-ma” sound.
Caregivers, naturally eager to assign meaning to their baby’s vocalizations, interpret this repeated sound as "mama"—the word for mother in countless languages. I know—it may not be the romantic explanation we’d like to hear! In reality, babies aren’t actually calling their mothers—they’re just playing with their mouths, exploring the sounds they can produce.
What About "Papa" and "Baba"?
As babies continue developing their speech, they start experimenting with new sounds based on those they have already mastered. Once they’ve learned to close their lips to produce "mm," they soon discover they can create a “bursting” sound by suddenly releasing air while their lips are closed. This leads to sounds like "p" and "b," which are known as plosive (or occlusive) phonemes—consonants formed by briefly blocking airflow in the mouth and then releasing it.
So why do these sounds become associated with "papa" or "baba" and not with mothers as well? The most logical explanation is that, in most cultures, the second primary caregiver after the mother is the father. Over time, the repeated "ba-ba" or "pa-pa" sounds have become widely recognized as terms for "father" in many languages worldwide.
Language and Human Connection
While this explanation may not be as poetic as we’d like, it highlights something fascinating about language development and human connection. The sounds infants make are shaped by biology, but their meaning is given by culture. Caregivers across the world hear the same early sounds—and instinctively assign them to the most important figures in a child’s life.
This is just one of the many ways that language is deeply rooted in our human experience. It’s not just about words—it’s about relationships, connection, and the way we make sense of the world together.
Beware of Assumptions! The Meaning Behind “Mother Tongue”
The terms "mother tongue," "native language," and "first language" may suggest that a child's mother plays the most significant role in language acquisition and transmission. While this is often the case, it is not a universal rule.
In some traditional societies, especially where parents come from different cultural backgrounds, the mother moves to the husband’s home or village to integrate into his community. In these cases, the local language spoken by the husband’s family often becomes the primary language of the children, even if they also learn the mother’s native language.
A Tradition Rooted in Patriarchal Norms
This practice is deeply embedded in patriarchal norms and cultural beliefs about gender roles and family responsibilities. In many rural communities in West Africa, such as Nigeria, it is common for women to relocate to their husband's village after marriage. Similarly, in parts of East Africa, including Kenya and Tanzania, women who marry into a different ethnic group are expected to adopt their husband’s language and way of life.
This also happens in various rural areas of India, Thailand, Vietnam, and Kazakhstan, where women who marry outside their ethnic group are required to learn their husband's language and integrate into his family and community.
An Ambiguous Term…
The term "mother tongue" is widely used, even among respected linguists, to refer to one’s native language. However, many argue that it can be misleading and problematic for several reasons.
First, it can be seen as discriminatory towards fathers and emotionally loaded. More importantly, it assumes a singular and exclusive language, reinforcing the outdated idea that a person can only have one native tongue.
This contradicts the reality of multilingualism, where children and adults use multiple languages in different contexts and with different people. In practice, children can have more than one native language.
Terms like "mother tongue," "first language," and "second language" create an artificial hierarchy, which clashes with neurolinguistic research demonstrating that all languages in a multilingual person’s brain are active simultaneously, forming a unified linguistic repertoire rather than separate compartments.
The Power of Words: A Responsibility for Educators and Researchers
It is crucial to recognize that terminology has consequences—both for ourselves and for others, including language communities and language learners. As researchers and educators, we must critically evaluate the words and concepts that shape our work.
We should ask ourselves:
🔹 To what extent do these terms limit or expand opportunities for the people they describe?
🔹 What kind of language planning policies are influenced by these terms?
🔹 Whose interests do they serve?
🔹 Can we use these terms strategically as tools of social justice, respecting and promoting linguistic rights?
Time for Reflection
So, what exactly is a "mother tongue"?
Ask anyone this question, and their answer will vary based on their personal experience and linguistic biography. For a monolingual speaker, the answer is straightforward: even if they speak a second language (learned, for example, in school), they will clearly identify their native language.
But for someone who moved to another country as a child or young adult, traditional definitions of “mother tongue” become problematic. They may find themselves having to decide whether their native language is the first language they learned or the one they now know best.
Defining "Mother Tongue": A Multifaceted Concept
It is clear that the concept of mother tongue is highly complex and shaped by multiple factors. It is generally intertwined with five key criteria. Let’s explore them:
1️⃣ The Temporal Criterion – The first language acquired (or learned before the “sensitive period” of around eight years old) is often considered the mother tongue or first language.
2️⃣ The Functional Dominance Criterion – The language most frequently used and serving the most functions in daily life is referred to as the dominant language.
3️⃣ The Competence Criterion – The language in which a speaker is most fluent is often considered their strongest language. However, this raises an issue—how should competence be measured? Should it be evaluated using frameworks like the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages?
4️⃣ The Emotional Criterion – The language used in highly emotional situations or the language a person feels most connected to could be considered their preferred language.
5️⃣ The Sociocultural Identification Criterion – The language of the culture with which a speaker identifies is sometimes referred to as their "ethnic language" or "heritage language." Identification can be internal (the person identifies with the language) or external (others recognize the speaker as a native speaker of that language).
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The Complexity of "Mother Tongue" in Schools
In educational contexts, it is often assumed that a student's mother tongue is simply the language they know best. However, this is not necessarily the child’s own choice—more often than not, it is the language of schooling, which the child must learn out of necessity. As a result, the child may not have the opportunity to consistently use or refine their home language.
This creates challenges for linguistic minorities. When children from linguistic minority backgrounds primarily use the majority language for daily communication, defining their mother tongue solely based on function (Criterion 2) may be problematic. This approach does not fully respect linguistic rights, particularly the right to freely choose one’s own mother tongue.
Similarly, if the majority language becomes the most proficient language in formal settings, using competence (Criterion 3) as a defining factor would also be misleading. Perhaps, in the case of linguistic minorities, a combination of different criteria and definitions would provide a more balanced approach.
Summing Up
Of the five criteria we explored, only the first—the temporal criterion—remains fixed, as it is tied to a concrete aspect: time. Identifying the age at which a language was first acquired is relatively straightforward.
The other dimensions, however, can evolve over time and are much harder to pinpoint. While the first criterion is purely chronological, the others are psychological. Rather than simplifying the question, these criteria reveal the complexity of bilingual and multilingual identity, highlighting different aspects of linguistic competence in each speaker.
But this raises an important question: Does it really matter which language we call our “mother tongue”?
Is it crucial to define the mother tongue of the new student who just arrived in your classroom? The native language of your child growing up abroad?
How Would You Classify Your Languages?
Reflecting on these five criteria—temporal, functional, competence-based, emotional, and sociocultural—how would you classify your own languages?
📌 If you grew up in a monolingual environment, determining your mother tongue is probably straightforward.
📌 If you were raised with two or more languages, which language do you feel most comfortable in? Which one do you use most in professional settings, family interactions, or friendships?
I'd love to hear your thoughts! Join the conversation on LinkedIn! 😊
References
Berruto, G., Moretti, B., & Schmid, S. (1988). L'italiano di parlanti colti in una situazione plurilingue. Rivista Italiana di Dialettologia.
Chernela, J. M. (2004). The politics of language acquisition: Language learning as social modeling in the northwest Amazon. Women and Language, 27(1), 13–21. George Mason University.