Minor Yankee republican tackles foreign tongues (9)
I believe the answer is:
youngster
'minor' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'yankee republican tackles foreign tongues' is the wordplay.
'yankee' becomes 'Y' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'republican' becomes 'R' (abbreviation in US politics).
'tackles' means one lot of letters goes inside another (tackle can mean to intercept or surround).
'foreign' is an anagram indicator (foreign order of the letters).
'y'+'r'='yr'
'tongues' with letters rearranged gives 'oungste'.
'yr' going around 'oungste' is 'YOUNGSTER'.
(Other definitions for youngster that I've seen before include "Adolescent" , "tyke" , "one of tender years" , "Child, minor" , "One not fully mature" .)