Xenoglossy

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For squash bee, see Xenoglossa.
This article is about the knowledge of a language one has not learned. For "speaking in tongues", see
Glossolalia. For the anime series, see Idolmaster: Xenoglossia
.
parapsychologist Charles Richet
coined the term xenoglossy in 1905.

Xenoglossy (

parapsychologist Charles Richet in 1905. Accounts of xenoglossy are found in the New Testament, and contemporary claims have been made by parapsychologists and reincarnation researchers such as Ian Stevenson. Doubts have been expressed that xenoglossy is an actual phenomenon, and there is no scientifically admissible evidence supporting any of the alleged instances of xenoglossy.[5][6][7][8]

Two types of xenoglossy are distinguished. Recitative xenoglossy is the use of an unacquired language incomprehensibly, while responsive xenoglossy refers to the ability to intelligibly employ the unlearned language as if already acquired.[9]

Christianity

This phenomenon is mentioned in

Pentecostal theologians in 1901.[13]

Spiritualism

Claims of mediums speaking foreign languages were made by Spiritualists in the 19th century. More recent claims of xenoglossy have come from reincarnation researchers who have alleged that individuals were able to recall a language spoken in a past life.[7] Some reports of xenoglossy have surfaced in the popular press, such as Czech speedway rider Matěj Kůs who in September 2007 supposedly awoke after a crash and was able to converse in perfect English; however press reports of his fluency in English were based entirely on anecdotal stories told by his Czech teammates.[14] Xenoglossy has been claimed to have occurred during exorcisms.[15]

Notable claims

Ian Stevenson

Canadian

parapsychologist and psychiatrist at the University of Virginia Ian Stevenson claimed there were a handful of cases that suggested evidence of xenoglossy. These included two where a subject under hypnosis could allegedly converse with people speaking the foreign language, instead of merely being able to recite foreign words. Sarah Thomason, a linguist at the University of Michigan, reanalyzed these cases, concluding that "the linguistic evidence is too weak to provide support for the claims of xenoglossy".[6]

William J. Samarin, a linguist from the University of Toronto, argues that Stevenson interacted with linguists in a selective and unprofessional manner, noting that Stevenson corresponded with one linguist for a period of six years "without raising any discussion about the kinds of thing that linguists would need to know," and that most of Stevenson's collaborators were "fellow believers" in the paranormal.[17]

In a review of Stevenson's Unlearned Language: New Studies in Xenoglossy (1984), William Frawley wrote that Stevenson was too uncritically accepting of a paranormal interpretation of the cases. In one case, a female subject could only answer

Bengalis. He concluded: "Stevenson does not consider enough linguistic evidence in these cases to warrant his metaphysics."[18]

Psychologist David Lester evaluated Stevenson's cases and wrote the subjects made grammatical mistakes, mispronounced words, and did not show a wide vocabulary of words in foreign language; he thus concluded that they cannot be considered evidence for xenoglossy.[19]

Alfred Hulme

In the early 20th century, Alfred Hulme, a self-proclaimed

Late Egyptian" and likely "falsified many results."[20]

Eberhardt Gmelin

In 1791 Eberhardt Gmelin, a German physician often credited with discovering

French accent.[21][22] However, this cannot be accepted as an example of xenoglossy, as the woman had probably picked up bits of the language from aristocratic refugees who had arrived at Stuttgart in 1789, the beginning of the French Revolution.[citation needed
]

Explanations

Most cases of recitative xenoglossy have been interpreted as instances of cryptomnesia, where memories of a language acquired earlier in life re-enter the consciousness in certain exceptional circumstances.[23][24]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 3125396832
  2. ISBN 3125396832
  3. ^ "xenoglossia". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d.
  4. ^ γλῶσσα, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
  5. ISBN 978-0805805079
  6. ^
    ISBN 1573920215
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-1578592098
  8. ISBN 1573929794
  9. ISBN 978-1538124802
    .
  10. ^ Mal Couch, A Bible Handbook to the Acts of the Apostles, Kregel Academic, USA, 1999, p. 38
  11. ^ Bill Lockwood, 'Gift of tongues' involved speaking foreign languages, timesrecordnews.com, USA, December 10, 2016
  12. ISBN 978-0271036151
  13. ^ Craig S. Keener, Spirit Hermeneutics, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, USA, 2016, p. 64
  14. ^ Crash Victim Wakes Up Speaking English
  15. ^ Florian Loisy (Sep 12, 2022). ""Esprit de mort, sors de cette femme": des séances d'exorcisme à Paris pour "délivrer" des personnes en détresse". Le Parisien.
  16. ^ Samarin, William J. (1976). Review of Ian Stevenson Xenoglossy: A Review and Report of a Case. Language 52: 270–274.
  17. ^ Samarin, William J. (1976). Xenoglossy: A Review and Report of a Case by Ian Stevenson. Language. Vol. 52, No. 1. pp. 270–274.
  18. ^ Frawley, William. (1985). Unlearned Language: New Studies in Xenoglossy by Ian Stevenson. Language. Vol. 61, No. 3. p. 739.
  19. ISBN 978-0786421169
  20. ISBN 978-1137404848
  21. ISBN 0465016723
    .
  22. ISBN 978-1272744137
    .
  23. ^ Research, American Society for Psychical (1973). Proceedings of the American Society for Psychical Research. H.B. Turner.
  24. ISBN 978-0300207286
    .

Bibliography

External links

Look up xenoglossy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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