₦airaland Forum

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Maybe na mother senior father. But Eve no senior Adam oo!


Naija dey use mother for some tins and father for other things. Dat na d manifestation of confusion. The oyibo wey manufacture naija neva tell naija whether na mother or father. Even the name 'Nigeria' tire me. If the name na because of River Niger and River Benue, why Benue and other states of the 'Nigeria' no show for the name?

Google not working??

Mother tongue not mother's tongue... Father land not father's land...

na the mother first talk to d pikin

Why would it bother you like so, OP? Is it really that deep?

If you understand why we call our native country motherland, it begins to make sense.

And yes, mother tongue, NOT mother's tongue.

Due to the closeness of mother and child, the first language a baby is exposed to is that of the mother. This arose in ancient times when societies married within the same language group (where mother and father spoke the same language), thus the first language a baby is exposed to is that of the mother which happens to be the general tribal language. In our modern times, with inter-tribal marriage and inter-racial marriage, the original contextual meaning may no longer apply and should instead be called 'father's tongue' since the world is predominantly patriarchal and every child is expected to identify with their paternal side (language wise, culture wise etc.) regardless of where their mother is from.

I don't see why minor things like terminology matter so much to people anyway. It does make sense when you view it in light of us calling our country motherland. Patriarchy doesn't have to be all-pervasive.