The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word MASAI
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
M
A
S
A
I
More clues leading to the result MASAI
- African mothers sitting by major road
- African language parents perfect
- African people married when without a match?
- A language degree’s the best
- African male in perfect health ingests arsenic
- East African, one resident in Siam oddly
- African people like being protected by chief, mostly
- Tongue a degree pronounced, cut
- African mothers, tip-top
- Language mostly principal across South America
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Tongue" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case tongue = masai.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.