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Linguistics & Grammar vocabulary · Core Concepts

Native speaker

Meaning in linguistics & grammar, with examples

/ˌneɪtɪv ˈspiːkə/nounCore term

In linguistics & grammar, native speaker means: A person who learned a language from early childhood as one of their first languages and uses it naturally, without having studied it formally.

In Turkish: ana dili konuşuru, ana dil konuşucusu

How it is used

Used in research (native speaker judgements), job adverts and teaching debates. Many researchers now question the native speaker as the only model for learners and prefer terms like L1 user or expert speaker.

Example sentences

  1. We asked ten native speakers whether each sentence sounded natural.

  2. Most people who speak English today are not native speakers of it.

Common collocations

  • native speaker of English
  • native-speaker intuition
  • non-native speaker
  • near-native
  • first languageThe language a person learns first, from birth or early childhood, usually the one they know best; linguists often shorten it to L1.
  • competenceA speaker's unconscious knowledge of the rules of their language, as opposed to performance, which is how they actually use it in real situations, with slips and hesitations.
  • bilingualismThe ability to use two languages, or the regular use of two languages by a person or a community; using more than two is called multilingualism.
  • lingua francaA language used for communication between people who do not share a first language, such as English in international business or Latin in medieval Europe.

More terms: Core Concepts

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