noun
mother tongue; native language
Refers to the language a person learns from birth, typically from their mother or family. Common in everyday and educational contexts.
彼女の母語は日本語です。
Her native language is Japanese.
母語を忘れないように、毎日話す練習をしている。
I practice speaking every day so I don't forget my mother tongue.
noun
protolanguage; parent language
Linguistics term for a reconstructed ancestral language from which later languages are derived. Often contrasted with 祖語 (そご), which is more common in this sense.
See also: 祖語 (そご)
言語学では、母語は祖語とも呼ばれる。
In linguistics, a protolanguage is also called a parent language.
Compound of 母 (mother) and 語 (language). The protolanguage sense is a calque from Western linguistic terminology.