Phrasebook

Mother language? Father language!

As a child, from whom did you learn your language? For sure you'll say: From mother! Most people in the world think that. The term ‘mother language’ exists in almost all nations. The English as well as the Chinese are familiar with it. Perhaps because mothers spend more time with the children. But recent studies have come to different results. They show that our language is mostly the language of our fathers. Researchers examined genetic material and languages of mixed tribes. In such tribes, the parents came from different cultures. These tribes originated thousands of years ago. Large migratory movements were the reason for this. The genetic material of these mixed tribes was genetically analyzed. Then it was compared to the language of the tribe. Most tribes speak the language of their male ancestors. That means, the language of the country comes from the Y chromosome. So men brought their language with them to foreign lands. And the women there then adopted the new language of the men. But even today, fathers have a great deal of influence on our language. Because when learning, babies are oriented toward the language of their father. Fathers speak considerably less with their children. The male sentence structure is also simpler than that of the female. As a result, the language of the father is better suited for babies. It doesn't overwhelm them and is easier to learn as a result. That is why children prefer to imitate ‘Dad’ when speaking rather than ‘Mum’. Later, the mother's vocabulary shapes the child's language. In this way, mothers influence our language as well as fathers. So it should be called parental language!