Speaking in Tongues: A Detailed Overview of Glossolalia
Speaking in tongues, also known as glossolalia, is a phenomenon or practice in which people utter words or speech-like sounds, often thought by believers to be languages unknown to the speaker. One definition used by linguists is the fluid vocalizing of speech-like syllables that lack any readily comprehensible meaning. In some cases, as part of religious practice, some believe it to be a divine language unknown to the speaker. Glossolalia is practiced in Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity, as well as in other religions.
Etymology and Historical Context
Glossolalia is a borrowing of the γλωσσοлаλία (glossolalía), which is a compound of the γλῶσσα (glossa) 'tongue, language' and λαλέω (laleō) 'to speak, talk, chat, prattle, make a sound'. The Greek expression (in various forms) appears in the New Testament in the books of Acts and First Corinthians. In Acts 2, the followers of Christ receive the Holy Spirit and speak in the languages of at least fifteen countries or ethnic groups. The exact phrase "speaking in tongues" has been used at least since the translation of the New Testament into Middle English in the Wycliffe Bible in the 14th century. Frederic Farrar first used the word glossolalia in 1879.
Linguistic Characteristics and Research
In 1972, William J. Samarin, a linguist from the University of Toronto, published a thorough assessment of Pentecostal glossolalia that became a classic work on its linguistic characteristics. Samarin found that glossolalic speech does resemble human language in some respects. The speaker uses accent, rhythm, intonation and pauses to break up the speech into distinct units. It consists of strings of syllables, made up of sounds taken from all those that the speaker knows, put together more or less haphazardly but emerging nevertheless as word-like and sentence-like units because of realistic, language-like rhythm and melody.
However, Samarin found that the resemblance to human language was merely on the surface and so concluded that glossolalia is "only a facade of language". He reached this conclusion because the syllable string did not form words and the stream of speech was not internally organized. Felicitas Goodman, a psychological anthropologist and linguist, also found that the speech of glossolalists reflected the patterns of speech of the speaker's native language. That the sounds are taken from the set of sounds already known to the speaker is confirmed by others.
Terminology Comparison
Sometimes a distinction is made between "glossolalia" and "xenolalia", or "xenoglossy", as shown in the following table:
| Term | Definition and Context |
|---|---|
| Glossolalia | Fluid vocalizing of speech-like syllables that lack any readily comprehensible meaning. |
| Xenolalia / Xenoglossy | The belief that the language being spoken is a natural language previously unknown to the speaker. |
The following points summarize the linguistic findings on the phenomenon:
- The speaker uses consonants and vowels found in a language known to the speaker.
- The units are organized into larger structures that are taken apart and rearranged pseudogrammatically.
- The practice involves variations in pitch, volume, speed and intensity.
- Linguistic assessments suggest there is no systematic relationship between units of speech and meaning.