Glossolalia

[Dilettante]

In one of my visits to the US I encountered Christians who believed that "speaking in tongues" was a sign of having the Holy Spirit. This "speaking in tongues", however, was very different from what supposedly happened at Pentecost, where the apostles miraculously made themselves understood by sepakers of different languages. When today's "charismatic" Christians speak in tongues, nobody understands a single word, but everyone seems happy about it. I can understand the need the apostles had of communicating the "good news" to people from other cultures. But uttering unintelligible sounds is quite a different matter. What's the use of glossolalia if nobody can understand what you're saying? Besides, I can replicate such phenomena without supernatural help: all it takes is a good ear for languages and a bit of imagination.

[asajoseph]

May I suggest that you read 1 Corinthians 14? Once you've done that, further thoughts might be interesting.

These verses might prove particularly interesting.

6Now, brothers, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction?

9So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air.

12So it is with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church

13For this reason anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says.

19But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.

27If anyone speaks in a tongue, two–or at the most three–should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.

Quite how someone is supposed to know whether or not their tongue will be interpreted BEFORE they utter it, I'm not too sure.


Interestingly however, 1 Corinthians 14 ALSO includes this verse, re: tongues.

22Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers.

And some rather draconian instructions for women, also.

Asa

[Dilettante]

That's my point: reading 1 Cor. 14 it seems that speaking in tongues is useless unless those tongues can be interpreted. But in order to be interpreted, first they have to identified. What people who practice glossolalia typically do is utter unidentifiable sounds which do not correspond to any known language. I have no idea how anyone could interpret such gibberish.
Another thing, glossolalia is not the same as xenoglossy. Here are the differences:
1. Glossolalia: Fabricated and nonmeaningful speech, especially such speech associated with a trance state or certain schizophrenic syndromes. (From Greek "glossa", language, and "lalein", to babble).
2. Xenoglossy: Miraculous speaking in an actual foreign language which the speaker does not know. (From "xeno", foreign, and "glossa", language).

However, what happened according to the book of Acts is entirely different. The disciples spoke in their own language, while each listener heard his or her own language. This does not seem to be happening nowadays...

[asajoseph]

Aha... In that case read 1 Corinthians 12 also - the gift of interpretation of tongues is here depicted as as much of a 'gift' as speaking in tongues itself.

7Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

[Dilettante]

Thanks for the quote. It seems then, that two people are necessary (each with his/her own gift) for "speaking in tongues" to be effective. Again, while people who claim to speak in tongues today are not in short supply among certain Christian sects, I hear that for the most part such tongues go uninterpreted. So, either those gifts are not given nowadays, or glossolalia has definitely replaced xenoglossy. Interestingly, the phenomenon has never been limited to Christians. The ancient Greek oracle at Delphi was an early example, and the practice is also common among followers of Haiti's Voodoo religion. I remember once listening to a recording of glossolalia and coinciding with what linguists have unanimously concluded:
1. That there is no identifiable syntax or grammatical
pattern.
2. That it sounds different depending on the subject's
native language.
3. That no paranormal explanation is necessary.
I don't know of any recorded instances of xenoglossy, though. I would be really interested (and amazed) if there were.

[asajoseph]

I too would certainly find any such study - concluding either way. Do you remember where you read the earlier study?

I would certainly agree that tongues should be interpreted if they are spoken in church - and that's certainly the Biblical view also (1 Cor 14:27-28). So I personally am very suspicious of churches where tongues are spoken with no interpretation, especially by the whole congregation at once. Indeed, this seems to be exactly what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 14.

At my particular church there is often a time left at the end of a worship period, for people to reflect, and it sometimes occurs that someone speaks (or occasionally sings) a tongue. If this happens, the minister will immediately stand up at the front, explain what it was, and call for an interpretation. In my view, this fits with the Biblical model well. Personally, I've never experienced a tongue, nor an interpretation. I'm not shut off to the idea, but I believe that if this gift does indeed exist, it has not yet been given to me.

Edit: Just as a note - there is also the idea that people can pray in tongues to God, and as such, another is not needed to interpret. I can only tell you, from my own personal experience, that I have never done this myself.
Asa

[Dilettante]

The reason why I said I would be amazed to find recorded examples of xenoglossy is that I think the chances of such a thing happening are close to nil. I know glossolalia is relatively common in many religions (Ancient Paganism, Ancient Hebrews, Whirling Dervishes of Islamic Sufism, etc) but since it is incoherent and agrammatical I consider it impossible to interpret. It may be an expression of the subject's feelings, but it's a non-verbal expression in any case. And in some cases it can be fraudulent: it's easy to fake--I can do it myself quite easily. In fact, if you take the time to memorize the first few lines from "Beowulf" you'll find that most people will think you are speaking in tongues!

No single instance of xenoglossy has ever been scientifically authenticated. However, false or apparent xenoglossy has occasionally been reported. I remember the story of an old lady from a small coastal village in the Basque region of Spain who moved with her family to a small town near Madrid. She was naturally bilingual, but due to social pressure at the time, it had been years since she had uttered a word in Basque. Her grandchildren didn't even know she could speak it. But one day she had cerebral thrombosis or something like that and she started speaking Basque again, having lost her ability to speak Spanish. Of course there was no one around she could communicate with in that language. This might have appeared like xenoglossy to her grandkids, but it was not. She had had to resort to a language she had repressed for years, not to one she didn't know previously. Apparently (I read this in Scientific American a long time ago) bilingual people develop different areas of the brain for each language. If one area is damaged, they still have the other one.

What the disciples did was, according to the NT, preach in their own languages while each listener heard their message in his or her own native tongue. That would be hetero-glossolalia, a truly miraculous event! I would like to have seen that, because it sounds really hard to believe!

I can't remember the exact source of the fragments of glossolalia that I heard (it was long ago). But linguists who have studied the subject include William Samarin of the University of Toronto. He wrote a book called Tongues of Men and Angels in 1972 where he compares it to jazz music improvisation (scat?) rather than language. He doesn't believe it is supernatural or that it requires an altered state of consciousness: it's just an ability we all can develop. An anthropologist called Felicitas Goodman has also studied the phenomenon. Here's some scientific bibliography from the religious tolerance site http://www.religioustolerance.org/tongues1.htm worth checking out (I don't have access to these books though):

F. Goodman, "Phonetic Analysis of Glossolalia in Four Cultural Settings," Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (1969), Pages 227 to 239.
F. Goodman, "Speaking in Tongues. A Cross-Cultural Study of Glossolalia," University of Chicago Press, (1972).
W. Samarin, "Tongues of Men and Angels. The Religious Language of Pentecostalism," Macmillan (1972).
W. Samarin, "Variation and Variables in Religious Glossolalia," Language in Society, (1972), 1:121-130.
W. Samarin, "Glossolalia as Regressive Speech," Language and Speech (1973), 16:77-89.

You may also want to check out the responses given by professional linguists to questions about tongues-speaking here:
http://linguist.emich.edu/issues/6/6-385.html

Regards,
Dilettante

[asajoseph]

Thanks for the info - I'll be on campus all day tomorrow, so I might see if I can dig up any of those books. I'd still be interested to hear how the studies were conducted, and what the sample group was (i.e. pentecostals, believing that all have the ability (wrongly IMHO) or individuals from other denominations who are believed to be specifically 'gifted').

If I find anything, I'll report back tomorrow.

What the disciples did was, according to the NT, preach in their own languages while each listener heard their message in his or her own native tongue. That would be hetero-glossolalia, a truly miraculous event! I would like to have seen that, because it sounds really hard to believe!

Whilst this occurs at Pentecost, it does seem to be distinct from what Paul talks about when he describes interpretation as a spiritual gift however - I mean, I speak 4 languages and read a little latin, but I certainly don't believe that any of these are 'spiritual gifts'! It would be more of a gift to be able to interpret the divine language of tongues, surely?

Asa

[asajoseph]

I've just checked my online University book catalogue - none of the Samarin texts you cite are there, howevere there is another, entitled 'Language in Religious Practice', of which he is the editor. There are one or two other works also, mostly earlier, however one of the Goodman texts is also there. I'll look tomorrow, if I get the chance.

Asa