Can you become a native speaker?

3877

oliviaRecently I read through the requirements of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR, see sources). Take a look at the following two paragraphs which are taken from the requirements for reading and spoken production on the highest level (C2):

“I can read with ease virtually all forms of the written language, including abstract, structurally or linguistically complex texts such as manuals, specialised articles and literary works.”

 

“I can present a clear, smoothly flowing description or argument in a style appropriate to the context and with an effective logical structure which helps the recipient to notice and remember significant points.”

Now think of your “first language” and let me ask you a question: Do you think that all native speakers would be able to do that?

When I think of my first language, I am sure that many people considered “native speakers” would not fulfil the requirements given above and “read with ease all forms of written language” or “present an argument with an effective logical structure”. However, acquiring these language competences does not automatically make you a native speaker, as the following explanation of the language levels from the same document states clearly:

“Level C2, whilst it has been termed ‘Mastery’, is not intended to imply native-speaker or near native-speaker competence.”

 

In its document on the standardization of language proficiency levels (see sources) the NATO Standardization Agency names the highest level of proficiency that of the “well-educated native”. Even if this distinction seems a bit clearer, it implies that a “not so well-educated native” is still a native speaker whereas an “expert” (the level before the “well-educated native”) is not equal to a native speaker even if s/he is able to do things that a “not so well-educated native” can’t. This left me wondering: If you are able to do things with a language that native speakers can’t and it doesn’t make you one of them, what does? Can you ever become a “native speaker”?

To answer this question, we have to find out what a native speaker actually is. According to the Cambridge English dictionary (see sources), a native speaker is “someone who has spoken a particular language since they were a baby, rather than having learned it as a child or adult.” At the first look, this sounds like a very clear and evident definition, but once you start questioning it, many weak points arise.

What if you don’t speak the same main language(s) throughout your whole life? What if you move to another place and switch the main language of your everyday use? What if you speak to your partner, your family or your children in a language other than your “first language”? What if you then start reducing or stop speaking the language you learned as a baby and only use another language for your everyday communication?

These questions make it clear that there are many situations that are more complex than the definition above suggests. One particular part of the definition seems to be crucial and still not really justified: Why do you have to be a baby in order to acquire “native” proficiency in a language? And when do you stop being a baby and become a child? In most people’s conceptual understanding of the word “baby”, babies have not even started speaking yet. So how can you have “spoken a language” since you were a baby? Does this distinction really make sense? And what is the perceived difference between acquiring a language as a baby or as a child?

This leads to the conclusion that the concept of “native speaker” is not only and maybe not even primarily about language itself. It is linked to other social aspects and based on ideas that many of us have about language that are not derived from the linguistic reality but from our (social) perception of it – our language ideologies.

The most evident ideology influencing the concept of “native speaker” is probably the “mother tongue ideology” – the belief that everyone has one (and only one) “mother tongue” which cannot be changed. This also assumes individual monolingualism as a norm – a claim that can hardly be held when looking at our connected and multilingual world (Weber/Horner 2012, see sources).

Sociolinguists (like Leung/Harris/Rampton 1997 and Weber/Horner 2012, see sources) argue that the concepts of “mother tongue” and “native speaker” are actually made up of three different aspects: language expertise (your proficiency), language inheritance (the language tradition of your family and community) and language affiliation (your attachment to or identification with a language). The term “native speaker” is a fuzzy merge of those three very different aspects. We might only refer to one or two of the aspects when we use it, but it is not always clear which one it is.

It can therefore be confusing to use the term “native speaker” to refer only to language proficiency because it also always implies the notion of language inheritance and language affiliation. This explains why you can be perceived as and labelled a “non-native speaker” even if your language expertise equals or exceeds that of a” native speaker”.

So, can you ever become a native speaker? It depends!

If we are talking about the mixture of all three aspects that can be implied in the concept of “native speaker”, it might be difficult or even impossible, especially with respect to language inheritance or the way that others perceive your language inheritance.

If we are only talking about the aspect of language expertise, it might be difficult too – but it is definitely possible!

 

Sources

Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)

C2 requirements for spoken production & reading: see p. 27

Explanation of the language levels: see p.36

Standardization of Language Proficiency Levels (NATO Standardization Agency)

 Cambridge English Dictionary “Native speaker”

The mother tongue ideology, in: Jean-Jacques Weber & Kristine Horner  (2012): Introducing Multilingualism – A social approach, p.18-19)

Constant Leung, Roxy Harris & Ben Rampton (1997): The Idealised Native Speaker, Reified Ethnicities, and Classroom Realities, pp. 543-560

Image, The Round Table

 

Written by Olivia Bantan
Terminology Student Visitor at TermCoord
German Teacher & Student at the University of Luxembourg