The monument for the Mother tongue in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2008)

Look up first language or mother tongue in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A first language (also native language, mother tongue, arterial language, or L1) is the language(s) a person has learned from birth^[1] or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity. In some countries, the terms native language or mother tongue refer to the language of one's ethnic group rather than one's first language.^[2] Sometimes, there can be more than one mother tongue, when the child's parents speak different languages. Those children are usually called bilingual.

By contrast, a second language is any language that one speaks other than one's first language.

Terminology[link]

Sometimes the term native language is used to indicate a language that a person is as proficient in as a native individual of that language's "base country", or as proficient as the average person who speaks no other language but that language.^{[citation needed]}

Sometimes the term mother tongue or mother language is used for the language that a person learnt as a child at home (usually from their parents). Children growing up in bilingual homes can, according to this definition, have more than one mother tongue or native language.

In the context of population censuses conducted on the Canadian population, Statistics Canada defines mother tongue as "the first language learned at home in childhood and still understood by the individual at the time of the census."^[3] It is quite possible that the first language learned is no longer a speaker's dominant language. This includes young immigrant children, whose families have moved to a new linguistic environment, as well as people who learned their mother tongue as a young child at home (rather than the language of the majority of the community), who may have lost, in part or in totality, the language they first acquired (see language attrition).

Mother Language[link]

The origin of the term "mother tongue" harks back to the notion that linguistic skills of a child are honed by the mother and therefore the language spoken by the mother would be the primary language that the child would learn.^{[citation needed]}

In some countries such as Kenya, India, and various East Asian countries, "mother language" or "native language" is used to indicate the language of one's ethnic group, in both common and journalistic parlance (e.g. 'I have no apologies for not learning my mother tongue'), rather than one's first language. Also in Singapore, "mother tongue" refers to the language of one's ethnic group regardless of actual proficiency, while the "first language" refers to the English language that was established on the island through British colonisation, which is the lingua franca for most post-independence Singaporeans due to its use as the language of instruction in government schools and as a working language.

International Mother Language Day Monument in Sydney, Australia, unveiling ceremony, 19 February 2006

J. R. R. Tolkien in his 1955 lecture "English and Welsh" distinguishes the "native tongue" from the "cradle tongue," the latter being the language one happens to learn during early childhood, while one's true "native tongue" may be different, possibly determined by an inherited linguistic taste, and may later in life be discovered by a strong emotional affinity to a specific dialect (Tolkien personally confessed to such an affinity to the Middle English of the West Midlands in particular).

21 February was been proclaimed the International Mother Language Day by UNESCO on 17 November 1999.

Significance[link]

The first language of a child is part of their personal, social and cultural identity.^[4] Another impact of the first language is that it brings about the reflection and learning of successful social patterns of acting and speaking. It is basically responsible for differentiating the linguistic competence of acting.

To a person his mother tongue is a “blessing in disguise”. It is not merely a time-table subject in his education but is forced upon him from all sides. It is learnt by both the direct or conscious and the indirect or unconscious method. The direct method supplements and regulates the knowledge gained by hearing.^{[citation needed]} The mother tongue is an indispensable instrument for the development of the intellectual, moral and physical aspects of education. It is a subject thought and by which other subjects can be tackled, understood and communicated. Clarity of thought and expression is only possible when one has a certain command over the mother tongue. Weakness in any other subject means weakness in that particular subject only, but weakness in the mother tongue means the paralysis of all thought and the power of expression. Deep insight, fresh discoveries, appreciation and expansion of ideas are only possible when one understands the subject through being able to assimilate and be stimulated by the ideas of the subject.^{[citation needed]}

On multilinguality[link]

One can have two or more native languages, thus being a native bilingual or indeed multilingual. The order in which these languages are learned is not necessarily the order of proficiency. For instance, a French-speaking couple might have a daughter who learned French first, then English; but if she were to grow up in an English-speaking country, she would likely be proficient in English. Other examples are India, Malaysia and South Africa, where most people speak more than one language.

The Brazilian linguist Cleo Altenhofen considers the denomination "mother tongue" in its general usage to be imprecise and subject to various interpretations that are biased linguistically, especially with respect to bilingual children from ethnic minority groups. He cites his own experience as a bilingual speaker of Portuguese and Riograndenser Hunsrückisch, a German-rooted language brought to southern Brazil by the first German immigrants. In his case, like that of many children whose home language differs from the language of the environment (the 'official' language), it is debatable which language is one's 'mother tongue'. Many scholars^{[citation needed]} have given definitions of 'mother tongue' through the years based on common usage, the emotional relation of the speaker towards the language, and even its dominance in relation to the environment. However, all of these criteria lack precision.

Defining mother tongue[link]

• Based on origin: the language(s) one learned first (the language(s) in which one has established the first long-lasting verbal contacts).
• Based on internal identification: the language(s) one identifies with/as a speaker of;
• Based on external identification: the language(s) one is identified with/as a speaker of, by others.
• Based on competence: the language(s) one knows best.
• Based on function: the language(s) one uses most.

See also[link]

• Child Of Deaf Adult
• Human speechome project at MIT
• Third Culture Kids
• List of languages by number of native speakers

References[link]

Nico Muhly /ˈniːkoʊ ˈmjuːli/ (born August 26, 1981, in Vermont) is a contemporary classical music composer,^[1] who has worked and recorded with classical and pop/rock musicians. He currently lives in the Lower East Side section of Manhattan in New York City.

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

Muhly was born in Vermont and raised in Providence, Rhode Island. His mother, Bunny Harvey, is a painter and teacher at Wellesley College, and his father, Frank Muhly, is a documentary filmmaker.^[2]

As a child, Muhly sang in the choir at Grace Episcopal Church in Providence,^[3] and he started to study piano at 10.^[2]

Muhly went on to study at The Wheeler School in Providence, then moved on to Columbia University where he got his undergraduate degree in English and to the Juilliard School where he graduated with his Master's degree in Music and studied composition with John Corigliano and Christopher Rouse.

Musical works[link]

In 2005, Muhly was commissioned by Colorado Academy, a private school in Colorado, to write a song for the opening of their new Fine Arts building.

Muhly worked in collaboration with Björk on the DVD single "Oceania" in 2004,^[4] and he worked with Philip Glass as an editor, conductor, and keyboardist.^[4]

In 2006, he released his first album of works, titled Speaks Volumes. In 2008, he released his second album, titled Mothertongue.

In 2009, Muhly worked on various classical compositions with the Brooklyn-based indie-folk rock band Grizzly Bear on their third album, Veckatimest,^[5] and he worked with Antony and the Johnsons on the albums The Crying Light and Swanlights.

Muhly recently worked on two commissions for UK-based Britten Sinfonia, performed in January and February 2010.

The Gilmore International Keyboard Festival commissioned "Drones & Piano" for pianist Bruce Brubaker. The piece premiered in May 2010.^[6]

Muhly's opera Two Boys, a collaboration with librettist Craig Lucas and directed by Bartlett Sher, premiered in June 2011 at the English National Opera and will make its Metropolitan Opera debut during the 2013/2014 season.^[7][8][9] According to a New York Times article, the opera is based on a late-1990s British case involving a 14-year-old boy taking on the online identity of women to try to get someone to kill him, without success.^[10] However, in an interview with The Advocate, Muhly stated that the opera is based on the story of an online friendship between two male teenagers, one of whom kills the other.^[2]

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Minnesota Commissioning Club, Cantus, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Alfred P. and Ann M. Moore commissioned "Luminous Body", also a collaboration with librettist Craig Lucas. The piece premiered on September 9, 2011.^[11]

Upcoming projects[link]

Six of Muhly's choral works are featured on a CD recorded by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, A Good Understanding, released by the Decca classics label.^[12]

Projects[link]

Arrangements and orchestrations[link]

• 2006 Letting Go by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
• 2007 Miserere Mei (orchestration of William Byrd's Miserere Mei)
• 2007 Deus and Bow Thine Ear (orchestration of William Byrd's Deus and Bow Thine Ear)
• 2008 All Is Well by Sam Amidon
• 2008 "Með þér" and "Á meðan vatnið velgist" on Bestu kveðjur by Sprengjuhöllin
• 2009 Confessions, a multimedia collaboration with Teitur Lassen.^[15]
• 2009 Various songs on Antony and the Johnsons' album The Crying Light^[16]
• 2009 Various songs on Grizzly Bear's album Veckatimest
• 2009 Tricks of the Trade on Mew's album No More Stories...
• 2009 Year of the Dragon on Run Rabbit Run^[17]
• 2010 Various songs on Antony and the Johnsons' album Swanlights
• 2010 Go by Jónsi
• 2010 I See the Sign by Sam Amidon

Recordings[link]

• 2007 – Speaks Volumes (Bedroom Community HVALUR1CD) (Includes Clear Music; It Goes without Saying; Honest Music; Quiet Music; Pillaging Music; A Hudson Cycle and Keep in Touch)
• 2008 – Joshua (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by various artists (Moviescore Media)
• 2008 – Mothertongue (Bedroom Community HVALUR5CD) (Includes Mothertongue I: Archive; Mothertongue II: Shower; Mothertongue III: Hress; Mothertongue IV: Monster; Wonders: I. New Things & New Tidings; Wonders: II. The Devil Appear’d in the Shape of a Man; Wonders: III. A Complaint against Thomas Weelkes; The Only Tune: I. The Two Sisters; The Only Tune: II. The Old Mill Pond; and The Only Tune: III. The Only Tune)
• 2009 – The Reader (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by various artists (Lakeshore Records)
• 2009 – So Far Around the Bend by the National
• 2010 – I Drink the Air Before Me (Bedroom Community HVALUR10, Decca/Universal Classics 478 257)
• 2010 – A Good Understanding by Los Angeles Master Chorale (Includes many choral works) (Decca/Universal Classics 478 250)
• 2011 – Seeing is Believing by the Aurora Orchestra (Decca/Universal Classics 478 273. Released 10th June 2011.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Tim Page, "High Scorer," Smithsonian Magazine, October 2007. Retrieved on 2 March 2008.
• Andy Beta, "Of Transgendered Violas and Transatlanic Collaborators," City Pages, Issue: September 26, 2007, retrieved on 2 March 2008.
• Rebecca Mead, "Eerily Composed: Nico Muhly’s sonic magic," The New Yorker, February 11, 2008, retrieved on 2 March 2008.
• Molly Sheridan, "Composer on Fire: Defining Nico Muhly" (includes video), NewMusicBox, March 1, 2007, retrieved on 2 March 2008.
• Nico Muhly, 'Walls come tumbling down," The Guardian, October 5, 2007. Retrieved from Guardian.co.uk on 2 March 2008.
• List of published scores, Chester Music and Novello & Company, retrieved on 2 March 2008.
• Michaels, Sean (October 2008), "Nico Muhly [interview]", The Believer 6 (8): 72–77. 
• Official Web Site
• Myspace Page
• Nico Muhly on Brassland Records
• Nico Muhly at Now magazine
• Nico Muhly Bio