Waking up one morning, a 49-year-old American woman who did not know any foreign languages, unexpectedly for herself, spoke with a strange accent - a mixture of French and Russian. Psychologists call this little-studied phenomenon "Foreign Accent Syndrome" - "foreign accent syndrome." However, some consider this woman to be a quack
“Please leave your message after a short beep,” Cindylou Romberg can now only hear his own normal voice on an answering machine. Accent-free American English is recorded on a slightly aged tape.
Two years later, Syndil's voice changed strangely. Today the 51-year-old American speaks strange English. Her accent is unlike any other European language. In the words of the Russian classic Griboyedov, "a mixture of French with Nizhny Novgorod."
This phenomenon is known to specialists as "Foreign Accent Syndrome" - "the syndrome of a foreign accent." Neurologists believe that this rare condition may be the result of a heart attack or head injury. The left hemisphere of the brain contains a language center that can be damaged by an accident or heart attack.
In 1981, Syndila was hit by a truck. As a result, she suffered severe brain injury. Over the next 17 years, she slowly recovered from the consequences of the accident, but there were no noticeable violations. Subsequently, the woman began to engage in physiotherapy exercises. Two days later, her voice completely disappeared, she could not utter a word. When she woke up on the third day, she was surprised to find that she was speaking with a new accent.
Ms. Romberg's attending physician, Dr. Dan Addison, suggests that while doing gymnastics, his patient suffered a slight cerebral hemorrhage. The left hemisphere of the brain, which is responsible for the speech center, was briefly damaged.
When Romberg goes to the store or answers the phone, he constantly hears the phrase: "Oh, what an interesting accent you have!" Syndil is annoyed by this. For so many years she talked normally with her family members, friends and grandchildren.
Today, she is not even able to correctly pronounce the name of her own daughter Cedriana (Cedriana). When talking, the poor girl stutters or mutters something inarticulate. Sometimes she uses incomprehensible words and sometimes does not quite understand what she was just talking about. Romberg claims that she speaks whole sentences in Russian, French and German, although she has never learned these languages before.
Promotional video:
However, it was not without skeptics. For example, Dr. Carsten Georg Hirdes, who has been observing patients with speech disorders for a long time, said in an interview with Welt magazine that he knows people who suddenly suddenly speak a foreign language only from anecdotes. He does not believe in these false medical stories.
"Anyone who spreads these absurdities about me does not know how I suffer from this situation," - said Romberg, speaking on American television. Indeed, some say it would be very exhausting to speak with someone else's accent all day.
Syndila is supported by her husband Glenn. He is already used to her accent and together they are happy that nothing seriously threatens her health. Romberg says: “After the accident, things could have been much worse. On the contrary, my new accent is like walking in the park."