Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
native (adj., n.)
The noun, used in the plural to mean “the people, especially of nonwhite races, who are indigenous to a place,” and in the singular to mean “someone born and living in a place,” is now considered racially or ethnically offensive in sentences such as The natives are restless tonight or A native came rushing into the compound. In the designation Native American the adjective is still appropriate and Standard, as it is when used to identify a person’s native language, and so also is the noun when it is used to say that someone is a native of a place, meaning that he or she was born there.
