Cryptophasia

Last updated

Cryptophasia is the phenomenon of a language developed by twins (identical or fraternal) that only the two children can understand. [1] The word has its roots from the Greek crypto-, meaning secret, and -phasia, meaning speech. Most linguists associate cryptophasia with idioglossia, which is any language used by only one, or very few, people. Cryptophasia differs from idioglossia on including mirrored actions like twin-walk and identical mannerisms.

Contents

Classification

It has been reported that up to 50% of young twins will have their own twin language which they use to communicate only with each other and which cannot be understood by others. [2] "In all cases known, the language consists of onomatopoeic expressions, some neologisms, but for the greatest part of words from the adult language adapted to the constrained phonological possibilities of young children. These words being hardly recognizable, the language may turn out to be completely unintelligible to speakers of the parents' languages, but they resemble each other in that they lack inflectional morphology and that word order is based on pragmatic principles such as saliency and the semantic scope of words. Neither the structure of the languages nor its emergence can be explained by other than situational factors." [3]

Causes

A delay in the phonological development of one or both twins (or two siblings at similar age of language development) is said to be a main cause of cryptophasia. Twins can develop the ability to communicate with one another without working within the grammar of their parents' language, thus possibly leading to a short-term delay in linguistic development of one or both twins. [2] The causes seem largely not to be in the greater pre- and perinatal biological problems twins may experience, but rather in postnatal factors. These factors occur within the family environment and include both a reduced quality of verbal stimulation and interaction with adult language models which result from greater demands of care-giving made on parents of twins, and the intensive interaction between twins which may increase their chances of developing cryptophasia and idioglossia at the expense of conventional language. [4]

Social effects

An article in Slate dealt with what is observed about the social effects of cryptophasia between twins and how it relates to societies. "Societies need unambiguous ways to distinguish between subject and object," Bakker says. "In the twin situation these can be dispensed with, but not in languages in which it is necessary to refer to events outside the direct situation." [5]

Examples

June and Jennifer Gibbons were twin sisters living in Wales whose language may have been an example of cryptophasia. It was exemplified by the twins' simultaneous actions, which often mirrored each other.

Grace and Virginia Kennedy, born in the United States in 1970, developed their own private language, characterized by an extremely fast tempo and staccato rhythm.

See also

Related Research Articles

Nature versus nurture is a long-standing debate in biology and society about the relative influence on human beings of their genetic inheritance (nature) and the environmental conditions of their development (nurture). The alliterative expression "nature and nurture" in English has been in use since at least the Elizabethan period and goes back to medieval French. The complementary combination of the two concepts is an ancient concept. Nature is what people think of as pre-wiring and is influenced by genetic inheritance and other biological factors. Nurture is generally taken as the influence of external factors after conception e.g. the product of exposure, experience and learning on an individual.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twin</span> One of two offspring produced by the same pregnancy

Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy. Twins can be either monozygotic ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two embryos, or dizygotic, meaning that each twin develops from a separate egg and each egg is fertilized by its own sperm cell. Since identical twins develop from one zygote, they will share the same sex, while fraternal twins may or may not. In very rare cases fraternal twins can have the same mother and different fathers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baby sign language</span> Signed language systems used with hearing infants/toddlers

Baby sign language is the use of manual signing allowing infants and toddlers to communicate emotions, desires, and objects prior to spoken language development. With guidance and encouragement, signing develops from a natural stage in infant development known as gesture. These gestures are taught in conjunction with speech to hearing children, and are not the same as a sign language. Some common benefits that have been found through the use of baby sign programs include an increased parent-child bond and communication, decreased frustration, and improved self-esteem for both the parent and child. Researchers have found that baby sign neither benefits nor harms the language development of infants. Promotional products and ease of information access have increased the attention that baby sign receives, making it pertinent that caregivers become educated before making the decision to use baby sign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Babbling</span> Stage in child development and language acquisition

Babbling is a stage in child development and a state in language acquisition during which an infant appears to be experimenting with uttering articulate sounds, but does not yet produce any recognizable words. Babbling begins shortly after birth and progresses through several stages as the infant's repertoire of sounds expands and vocalizations become more speech-like. Infants typically begin to produce recognizable words when they are around 12 months of age, though babbling may continue for some time afterward.

The origin of language, its relationship with human evolution, and its consequences have been subjects of study for centuries. Scholars wishing to study the origins of language draw inferences from evidence such as the fossil record, archaeological evidence, contemporary language diversity, studies of language acquisition, and comparisons between human language and systems of animal communication. Many argue for the close relation between the origins of language and the origins of modern human behavior, but there is little agreement about the facts and implications of this connection.

Baby talk is a type of speech associated with an older person speaking to a child or infant. It is also called caretaker speech, infant-directed speech (IDS), child-directed speech (CDS), child-directed language (CDL), caregiver register, parentese, or motherese.

A language delay is a language disorder in which a child fails to develop language abilities at the usual age-appropriate period in their developmental timetable. It is most commonly seen in children ages two to seven years-old and can continue into adulthood. The reported prevalence of language delay ranges from 2.3 to 19 percent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vocabulary development</span> Process of learning words

Vocabulary development is a process by which people acquire words. Babbling shifts towards meaningful speech as infants grow and produce their first words around the age of one year. In early word learning, infants build their vocabulary slowly. By the age of 18 months, infants can typically produce about 50 words and begin to make word combinations.

An idioglossia is an idiosyncratic language invented and spoken by only one or two people. Most often, idioglossia refers to the "private languages" of young children, especially twins, the latter being more specifically known as cryptophasia, and commonly referred to as twin talk or twin speech.

Specific language impairment (SLI) is diagnosed when a child's language does not develop normally and the difficulties cannot be accounted for by generally slow development, physical abnormality of the speech apparatus, autism spectrum disorder, apraxia, acquired brain damage or hearing loss. Twin studies have shown that it is under genetic influence. Although language impairment can result from a single-gene mutation, this is unusual. More commonly SLI results from the combined influence of multiple genetic variants, each of which is found in the general population, as well as environmental influences.

Speech delay, also known as alalia, refers to a delay in the development or use of the mechanisms that produce speech. Speech – as distinct from language – is the actual process of making sounds, using such organs and structures as the lungs, vocal cords, mouth, tongue, teeth, etc. Language delay refers to a delay in the development or use of the knowledge of language.

Language development in humans is a process which starts early in life. Infants start without knowing a language, yet by 10 months, babies can distinguish speech sounds and engage in babbling. Some research has shown that the earliest learning begins in utero when the fetus starts to recognize the sounds and speech patterns of its mother's voice and differentiate them from other sounds after birth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Speech</span> Human vocal communication using spoken language

Speech is the use of the human voice as a medium for language. Spoken language combines vowel and consonant sounds to form units of meaning like words, which belong to a language's lexicon. There are many different intentional speech acts, such as informing, declaring, asking, persuading, directing; acts may vary in various aspects like enunciation, intonation, loudness, and tempo to convey meaning. Individuals may also unintentionally communicate aspects of their social position through speech, such as sex, age, place of origin, physiological and mental condition, education, and experiences.

Personality development encompasses the dynamic construction and deconstruction of integrative characteristics that distinguish an individual in terms of interpersonal behavioral traits. Personality development is ever-changing and subject to contextual factors and life-altering experiences. Personality development is also dimensional in description and subjective in nature. That is, personality development can be seen as a continuum varying in degrees of intensity and change. It is subjective in nature because its conceptualization is rooted in social norms of expected behavior, self-expression, and personal growth. The dominant viewpoint in personality psychology indicates that personality emerges early and continues to develop across one's lifespan. Adult personality traits are believed to have a basis in infant temperament, meaning that individual differences in disposition and behavior appear early in life, potentially before language of conscious self-representation develop. The Five Factor Model of personality maps onto the dimensions of childhood temperament. This suggests that individual differences in levels of the corresponding personality traits are present from young ages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Child development</span> Stages in the development of children

Child development involves the biological, psychological and emotional changes that occur in human beings between birth and the conclusion of adolescence. It is—particularly from birth to five years— a foundation for a prosperous and sustainable society.

Phonological development refers to how children learn to organize sounds into meaning or language (phonology) during their stages of growth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Speech repetition</span> Repeating something someone else said

Speech repetition occurs when individuals speak the sounds that they have heard another person pronounce or say. In other words, it is the saying by one individual of the spoken vocalizations made by another individual. Speech repetition requires the person repeating the utterance to have the ability to map the sounds that they hear from the other person's oral pronunciation to similar places and manners of articulation in their own vocal tract.

Statistical language acquisition, a branch of developmental psycholinguistics, studies the process by which humans develop the ability to perceive, produce, comprehend, and communicate with natural language in all of its aspects through the use of general learning mechanisms operating on statistical patterns in the linguistic input. Statistical learning acquisition claims that infants' language-learning is based on pattern perception rather than an innate biological grammar. Several statistical elements such as frequency of words, frequent frames, phonotactic patterns and other regularities provide information on language structure and meaning for facilitation of language acquisition.

A late talker is a toddler experiencing late language emergence (LLE), which can also be an early or secondary sign of an autism spectrum disorder, or other developmental disorders, such as fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, intellectual disability, learning disability, social communication disorder, or specific language impairment. Lack of language development, comprehension skills, and challenges with literacy skills are potential risks as late talkers age. Outlook for late talkers with or without intervention is generally favorable. Toddlers have a high probability of catching up to typical toddlers if early language interventions are put in place. Language interventions include general language stimulation, focused language stimulation and milieu teaching.

Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is identified when a child has problems with language development that continue into school age and beyond. The language problems have a significant impact on everyday social interactions or educational progress, and occur in the absence of autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability or a known biomedical condition. The most obvious problems are difficulties in using words and sentences to express meanings, but for many children, understanding of language is also a challenge. This may not be evident unless the child is given a formal assessment.

References

  1. Thomas, JG (April 1996). "The early parenting of twins". Military Medicine. 161 (4): 233–235. doi: 10.1093/milmed/161.4.233 . PMID   8935514.
  2. 1 2 Bishop (1998). "'Twin language': A risk factor for language impairment?". Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. 41 (1): 150–160. doi:10.1044/jslhr.4101.150. PMID   9493741. Archived from the original on 2019-09-13. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
  3. Bakker, P (1987). "Autonomous Language of Twins". Acta Geneticae Medicae et Gemellologiae: Twin Research. 36 (2): 233–8. doi: 10.1017/s0001566000004463 . PMID   3434134.
  4. Zani, Bruna (1991). "Communicative Skills in Childhood: The Case of Twins". Discourse Processes. 14 (3): 339–356. doi:10.1080/01638539109544789.
  5. Jon Lackman (August 24, 2011) "Dugon, Haus You Dinikin, Du-Ah", Slate