This xenoglossy (or xenolalia) manifests itself in different forms, seemingly unique to that individual speaking in tongues, and sometimes attributed to past-life regression or other paranormal activity—though examining the mental mechanics is just as tantalising. A recent case reveals that eloquence is not always included in the package. After developing an arterial-flow problem, an Italian man began remembering the fragments of French he’d picked up three decades prior while courting a girl. Although still able to speak perfectly good Italian, the man insisted on communicating in broken French, albeit delivered at a rapid and articulate pace of someone very confident in his lingual skills.
Wednesday, 1 June 2016
xénoglossie ou maladroit
The Neurocritic—which looks like a wonderful blog about cognitive science, recommended by Marginal Revolution, has an excellent primer and reporting on the curious phenomena of people all of a sudden (usually after a trauma) being able to speak with some fluency a foreign language that they’ve no prior acquaintance with.
This xenoglossy (or xenolalia) manifests itself in different forms, seemingly unique to that individual speaking in tongues, and sometimes attributed to past-life regression or other paranormal activity—though examining the mental mechanics is just as tantalising. A recent case reveals that eloquence is not always included in the package. After developing an arterial-flow problem, an Italian man began remembering the fragments of French he’d picked up three decades prior while courting a girl. Although still able to speak perfectly good Italian, the man insisted on communicating in broken French, albeit delivered at a rapid and articulate pace of someone very confident in his lingual skills.
This xenoglossy (or xenolalia) manifests itself in different forms, seemingly unique to that individual speaking in tongues, and sometimes attributed to past-life regression or other paranormal activity—though examining the mental mechanics is just as tantalising. A recent case reveals that eloquence is not always included in the package. After developing an arterial-flow problem, an Italian man began remembering the fragments of French he’d picked up three decades prior while courting a girl. Although still able to speak perfectly good Italian, the man insisted on communicating in broken French, albeit delivered at a rapid and articulate pace of someone very confident in his lingual skills.