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Definition of First language
1. Noun. One's native language; the language learned by children and passed from one generation to the next.
Definition of First language
1. Noun. the first language one is taught to speak; one's native language. ¹
2. Noun. the language one feels most comfortable and capable with ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Lexicographical Neighbors of First Language
Literary usage of First language
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. The Foundations of History: A Series of First Things by Samuel Bradhurst Schieffelin (1875)
"THE first language. IT appears that as soon as Adam and Eve were created they
could talk. They were not only made able at once to speak, but with the power ..."
2. Origin of Language and Myths by Morgan Peter Kavanagh (1871)
"MAN'S first language OF ARTICULATE SOUNDS. AND this O was not only man's first
word, but even his first language, for a single word may, ..."
3. The Principles of Language-study by Harold E. Palmer (1921)
"Their first language had interfered in no way with their power of acquiring the
second. There were, however, exceptions ; in some instances the possession ..."
4. History of the Problems of Philosophy by Paul Janet, Gabriel Séailles (1902)
"Condillac was wrong in maintaining that the first language was a ... The first
language was figurative ; it expressed the passion roused by an object rather ..."
5. Language and the Study of Language: Twelve Lectures on the Principles of by William Dwight Whitney (1889)
"... principle of the first language-making; value cf tone tod gesture. 21. ...
first language; rise and final prevalence of word-making by derivation. kl. ..."