Xenoglossia (from the Greek "xenos" - "alien" and "glossa" - "language"), along with telepathy, telekinesis and clairvoyance, is one of the most mysterious and still unexplained properties of the human brain. Why does an ordinary person, without knowing how, suddenly begin to speak in a language that he has not learned? It’s hard to believe, but such cases do happen, there are already thousands of them, and many of them are carefully verified and documented.
Ancient Egyptian woman in the English countryside
The most famous case of xenoglossia occurred in 1931 in the English city of Blackpool. 13-year-old Rosemary N. who lived here suddenly began to call herself Teleka Ventui, who lived in Ancient Egypt, and demonstrate knowledge of a language that was incomprehensible to those around her, in her words, Ancient Egyptian. The British Society for Psychical Research became interested in a strange girl. Dr. F. Wood wrote down some of her phrases in a strange dialect and sent them to the famous Egyptologist G. Halm. The answer came very quickly. Halm concluded that the phrases are indeed ancient Egyptian, moreover, they show a high level of literacy and even include archaisms that were in use during the reign of Amenhotep III.
Halm soon met Rosemary in person and asked her several questions about the daily life of Egypt at that time. All over the world, only a dozen historians, including himself, could answer these questions. A girl from the north of England answered in full and in detail, and in such a magnificent language of the ancient Egyptians that the scientist was amazed. By the end of the "exam," Halm was convinced that he was indeed hearing "a voice from a distant time."
Another story, which also became widely known, happened in the 1930s with the children of Dr. McDuffie from New York. McDuffie thought his twins were just playing, chatting to each other in meaningless gibberish. But one day a professor, an expert in ancient languages, came to visit him. Hearing the conversations of the children, he was incredibly surprised: it turns out that the children communicated in the Aramaic language that existed at the time of Christ.
In general, xenoglossia is most often found in representatives of the younger generation. Biologist L. Watson describes the case of a 10-year-old boy Indio Igaro from the Philippines, who could speak a Zulu language he had never heard. And there are many such examples. But there are also adult “xenogloss”.
For example, in 1959, newspapers wrote about the 44-year-old Canadian John Dougherty, who suddenly discovered that in ancient times he lived in the Middle East. Dougherty recalled the circumstances of that fate and could write in the language he then used. Samples of his letter were handed over to specialists, and they discovered that this is an offshoot of the Arabic language, which has not been used since 651. But none of the linguists could explain why a person suddenly developed knowledge of a dead language, characterized, moreover, by a set of complex specific rules and unusual vocabulary that has nothing to do with modern languages.
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In 1977, the criminal Billy Mulligan, who was in prison in Ohio (USA), unexpectedly discovered in himself two persons who spoke one - in Arabic, the other - in Serbo-Croatian, which was later confirmed by experts. For days these individuals talked with each other, each in its own way, while perfectly understanding the interlocutor. Investigation revealed that Mulligan never learned these languages and never left the United States, where he was born and raised.
Searching for explanations
Few doubts that the phenomenon really exists, but it was possible to advance in its study no further than, say, in the study of the same telepathy.
Psychiatrists try to explain xenoglossia … as schizophrenia. A person allegedly has a split personality, in which one of the halves recalls a foreign language that was learned unconsciously (for example, during a stay abroad) or in childhood. But it is still difficult to believe that the cause of the phenomenon lies in a simple disturbance of consciousness. Moreover, in most cases, xenoglossia, as already mentioned, is observed in children. And you can’t even suspect them that once they studied someone else’s dialect, then they forgot it and suddenly, to the great surprise of their parents, they began to speak it again.
Knowledge of a foreign language requires a long training, practice, including vocabulary replenishment, mastering syntax and grammar, sometimes alien to a person's native speech. And therefore, even with a phenomenal memory, “suddenly” you cannot speak an unfamiliar language. In addition, sometimes people "remembered" a dead language that had not been used for hundreds, if not thousands of years, and this was even stranger. However, if this language was deciphered, then experts could easily translate from it, which excluded the possibility of deception by "xenoglossians".
All this makes it very difficult to explain the phenomenon by natural causes, but such dubious things from the point of view of official science as genetic memory and telepathy cannot be explained either - such attempts turn out to be clearly untenable when considering many specific cases.
Professor Ian Stevenson (USA) adheres to the version about the reincarnation nature of xenoglossia. In his opinion, in some people, after trauma or in a hypnotic state, the memory of past lives may appear. Among the cases he cited, he studied one personally. A woman from Pennsylvania, being in a state of hypnosis, somehow suddenly acquired the ability to communicate in Old Swedish, which she did not normally know. She spoke in a low voice and introduced herself as a Swede Jensen YakObi, who lived in the 17th century. Stevenson writes that before the woman had no contact with the Swedish language and did not study it, which means she remembered the language from her previous incarnation.
Stevenson's theory is largely agreed by those who acknowledge the existence of reincarnation. However, most researchers consider his arguments unconvincing. In their opinion, reincarnation does not explain all the episodes of xenoglossy. So, in some cases (including those identified under hypnosis), people began to speak, presumably, in the languages of aliens. There are also known participants in the experiments who acquired the ability to speak and write, for example, in the language of the Atlanteans.
In 1899, researcher T. Flourne studied a woman named Helen, who believed that in addition to several earthly languages, she knew the language of the inhabitants of Mars. She detailed to Flurnet the structure, spelling and grammatical features of the Martian language, which has nothing to do with any of the terrestrial ones. This, even with special knowledge, is difficult to invent, not only overnight, but also over the years of hard work.
Ten languages of the illiterate peasant
All of the above suggests that xenoglossy is based on a phenomenon called mental transmigration, or, more simply, obsession. This version seems to be confirmed by the case of the criminal Mulligan, and even more - by the striking story that took place in the first half of the 19th century in southern Italy with the 50-year-old illiterate peasant Giovanni Agrazzio.
It all started with the fact that once there were changes in his behavior: he began to have memory lapses, at times he did not recognize his acquaintances. Then Agrazzio began to talk to himself and to those around him in a language they did not understand. When the village priest recognized Latin in this language, Agrazzio became interested in representatives of the local intelligentsia: gymnasium teachers, a doctor, a judicial officer and a certain graduate of the University of Bologna. In the report of this scientific meeting, submitted to the authorities, it was asserted that Agrazzio spoke not only Latin, but also Turkish, Greek and some other languages unknown to the authors of the report. Agrazzio could switch from one language to another, then to a third, and so on without hesitation. The pundits have concluded that Agrazzio spoke at least 10 different languages.
He could not explain this ability of his. The polyglot intended to be sent to Rome so that the professor could examine him, but he categorically opposed this. In addition, as Agrazzio's unusual abilities increased, he began to show signs of rampage. The report stated that he showed disrespect and blasphemy in different languages. When the priest sprinkled him with holy water, the peasant roared and tried to attack him. The church authorities insisted on carrying out the rite of exorcism, and the unfortunate Agrazzio died during the forced exorcism procedure, taking his secret to the grave (the answer to which, however, he probably did not know himself).
Author: I. Voloznev