Why ‘mother tongue‘ (not ‘father tongue‘) is a commonly accepted term across the globe? Is it a gender neutral term? Does it mean that it is only the mother who helps the child learning the tongue?
Why is it not then ‘parents tongue’ or ‘father tongue’? Is ‘parents tongue’ not more gender neutral?
May be the children spend more time with mother than father from infancy to adolescence. Children replicate the language of mother. For which the essence of 'mother tongue' may come into play.
Mother undoubtedly spends more time with the child compared to the father during early childhood. However, that does not mean that father plays insignificant role in the process of enculturation. So is ’mother tongue,’ a widely accepted and consciously created term by adults, a gender neutral term?
The etymology of the term first seemed to refer negatively to the lesser practiced language of women/mothers as opposed to “father tongue.” Today however it is used as others say as a neutral term
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