У статті різноаспектно схарактеризовано поняття «рідна мова». З’ясовано основні параметри його. Проаналізовано вплив політичних, ідеологічних, соціальних чинників на визначення рідної мови. Схарактеризовано кореляцію поняття «рідна мова» з поняттями «національна мова», «материнська мова», «перша мова». Розкрито специфіку визначення рідної мови в полікультурному середовищі.
The purpose of the study is to reveal the specifics of the definition of the native language and find out the role of the native language in the life of a policultural society. Sources of research are historical documents and observations of scientists of different years. In Ukrainian linguistics, the concept of «native language» is determined by various differential signs. Most often determined by the type of language learning (person learned as a child at home (usually from parents (mother) without special training) and nationality (national language). The native language was important in the formation of the Ukrainian nation in the 19th - early 20th centuries. This problem was very acute in the policultural Transcarpathia. Language as an identifier of the people has become an instrument of political manipulation, a means of separation of Ukrainian Transcarpathia and the formation of sympathy for Russia. The struggle for national selfdetermination was primarily a struggle for the native language of the people. In the multinational USSR, the implementation of the policy of internal colonialism and the formation of the Soviet people was accompanied by repressive measures against Ukrainian nationally conscious citizens and ethnic minorities, erasing the policultural of many regions of Ukraine, the adoption of Russian as a language of interethnic communication and as a native language for non-Russian citizens. All-Union censuses reflect this trend. The results of a survey on the use of languages in 1926, 1970, 1979 and 1989 are analyzed. A long war against Ukrainian identity, language, statehood, and the assimilation policy of the USSR led to the Russification of the Ukrainian people and numerous ethnic groups living in Ukraine. This destroyed the policulturalism of the regions of Ukraine. In the new Ukrainian state, it became necessary to approve the status of the Ukrainian language and languages of national minorities. In a modern policultural society, the definition of the native language is important for establishing the identity of a person and his belonging to a particular ethnic group. This does not lose relevance in the case of the presence of two native languages, since a person can identify himself with the corresponding ethnic groups by language. Under the development of the Ukrainian state, understanding the mother tongue as a national one remains very important.
