Smithsonian.com – Mary Linn
“Language is what makes us human. With very few exceptions—severe brain trauma—no matter our station in life, our intelligence or our society’s ability to create sophisticated gadgets, we all use a highly complex communication system to explain our basic needs or to describe our wildest dreams. The phrase “mother language,” which we once described as “mother tongue,” refers to what we are taught at home from birth by our mothers—our first language or native language…The day goes a long way to accepting each other more completely as neighbors in this world.”(more)