Xenoglossy
From Free net encyclopedia
Current revision
Xenoglossy is the putative phenomenon in which a person is able to speak a language that he or she could not have acquired by natural means. For example, a person who speaks German but has never studied German, been to a German-speaking country, or associated with German-speakers would be said to exhibit xenoglossy.
Xenoglossy has been used as evidence for the reality of reincarnation on the assumption that retention of knowledge of the language from a previous life is the only way to account for it. The leading proponent of this idea is Ian Stevenson, a psychiatrist who has tried to present scientific evidence for the reality of reincarnation.
The reality of xenoglossy is not widely accepted. Linguist Sarah Thomason concluded from her analysis of the cases described by Stevenson that in all but one case the language knowledge displayed was minimal and could easily have been learned by casual exposure. In the one case in which she considered the subject's language knowledge to be non-trivial, that of a Marathi woman in Bombay who could speak Bengali, Thomason argues that the language could easily have been acquired by natural means: Bengali and Marathi are closely related languages, the woman had a life-long interest in Bengali language and culture and many Bengali acquaintances, and people in Bombay are exposed to Bengali in such contexts as the cinema since many films are made in Bengali.
The term xenoglossy is also used as a synonym for glossolalia with the meaning of speaking in a language that the speaker does not know.
References
Stevenson, Ian (1984) Unlearned Language: New Studies in Xenoglossy. University Press of Virginia. ISBN 0813909945
Thomason, Sarah G. (1984) "Do you remember your previous life's language in your present incarnation?" American Speech 59.340-50.
Thomason, Sarah G. (1987) "Past tongues remembered?" The Skeptical Inquirer 11.367-75. (Summer 1987).