polyglot

　 　

WordNet

1. having a command of or composed in many languages; "a polyglot traveler"; "a polyglot Bible contains versions in different languages"

PrepTutorEJDIC

1. 数か国語ができる / 数か国語で書かれた / 数か国語ができる人 / 数か国語で書かれた書物,(特に)聖書

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出典(authority):フリー百科事典『ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』「2014/03/09 20:41:27」(JST)

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"Polyglot" redirects here. For other uses, see Polyglot (disambiguation).

Polyglotism or polyglottism is the ability to master numerous languages. Multilingualism is a word with a similar meaning.

Richard Hudson, professor emeritus of linguistics at University College London, coined the term "hyperpolyglot" for a person who can speak twelve or more languages fluently.

There are many theories to explain the existence of polyglotism in some individuals, including differences in intellect and brain structure.

It is difficult to judge which individuals are polyglots, as there is no uncontroversial definition of what it means to "master" a language. Nonetheless, many people have been described as polyglots. This includes some cases of "polyglot savants", people who show mental disability in some areas but unusually high ability to learn or use languages.

Theories

Numerous theories exist as explanations for polyglotism. For example, it has been recognized that someone who is interested in languages, with a sufficiently developed intellect, and who optimizes his/her learning technique with experience, will become increasingly efficient as each new language is learned; therefore, such an individual is able to master new languages with less effort than the average person. Also, different languages overlap in the areas of grammar and vocabulary, and this makes it easier to acquire connected languages, such as English and French words (the overlap is much smaller between English and German, and other Germanic languages).

One theory suggests that a spike in a baby's testosterone levels while in the uterus can increase brain asymmetry, while others have suggested that hard work and the right type of motivation—which any adult can apply—are the key factors of polyglotism. Neuroscientist Katrin Amunts studied the brain of German polyglot Emil Krebs and determined that the area of Krebs' brain that was responsible for language—the Broca's area—was organised differently in comparison to the brains of monolinguals.^{[citation needed]}

Objective criteria

Due to the advent of computers, linguists obtained a better understanding of what it can mean to "know a language". It is estimated that the most frequently used 2000 words—in all or most of their multiple senses—cover approximately seventy-five to eighty percent of a general text in English and other European languages; such a limited vocabulary also allows one to express more complicated concepts, whereby they are described by means of circumlocutions (e.g. as a rule, 30,000 to 50,000 words in modern English learner's dictionaries are defined with merely 2000 to 3000 defining vocabulary words). On the other hand, a native speaker with an American college education may possess a 25,000- to 30,000-word passive vocabulary—of which various parts can be activated—that increases to possibly 50,000 words, or more, by the age of fifty to sixty years.^{[citation needed]}

It is therefore difficult to objectively judge many claims of polyglotism, because what is ostensibly "fluent speech" can be achieved with the assertive use of a very limited general-purpose or specialized vocabulary.^{[citation needed]}

Polyglot savant

Savants are typically individuals with significant mental disabilities who demonstrate profound and prodigious capacities and/or abilities far in excess of what would be considered normal, including the capacity for languages. Daniel Tammet, an autistic savant, is a notable example who, as of early 2005, spoke seven languages and was also devising his own languages.

A well-known case of a polyglot savant is that of "Christopher," who participated in studies with Dr. Neil Smith, Ianthi-Maria Tsimpli, and Jamal Ouhalla. Christopher is fluent in approximately sixteen languages and possesses the capacity to acquire new languages very easily, although his representations of the sound systems of these languages is relatively poor and his ability to use language communicatively is highly restrained. Researchers taught him new languages, controlling the methods and exposure, so that they could study his language-learning process and extrapolate the results to determine how most people acquire languages. Christopher was taught two completely new languages: Berber language is a real language spoken in Africa, while Epun is an invented language. Some of Epun’s structures and rules were made to violate the parameters of universal grammar, which are hypothesized to underlie all human languages. Christopher was able to learn Berber as easily as he could any other foreign language, but had difficulties learning Epun. For example, he had trouble processing sentences structures that weren’t in the S-V-O order. This provided further evidence for the theory that there is a Universal grammar shared by all human languages which defines what is linguistically possible (in terms of word order, syntax, structure, etc.). The researchers applied what they discovered from studying how Christopher learned Berber and Epun to the general process of acquiring an L2 (a language that it is non-native). They conclude that L2 learning consists of transferring familiar rules from one’s L1 (native language) to the new language system and of applying the principles of universal grammar.

This research demonstrates the hope that studying how extraordinary individuals, such as polyglot savants, will help reveal how humans in general acquire languages.

Christopher learned languages by quickly "devouring" introductory self-teaching books, interacting with native speakers, and receiving explicit instructions. Christopher is also capable of identifying many different languages by looking at their written form, although he cannot speak or translate them. However, with a keen eye and a little bit of training this skill can be relatively easily acquired. For example, Christopher correctly identified Bengali, Chinese, Czech, Gujarati, Icelandic, just to name a few, when shown examples of these languages. This is especially interesting because these languages are from a range, both genetically and typologically. However, many of these languages differ largely in aesthetic characteristics of their writing styles, making the task of identification simpler.

While polyglot savants such as Emil Krebs may have anatomical or biological differences that allow them to organize language in a different and more efficient manner, it has also been suggested that the entire language acquisition process for polyglot savants is different from the process most humans undergo. This ability, though, is also seen in individuals with no apparent deficits in any cognitive, linguistic, motor, emotional or other domains, adding further complexity to the picture. It has been proposed that these individuals with unparalleled linguistic abilities undergo the same first language acquisition process over and over again with each new language. Because they are able to consciously or unconsciously learn the pragmatics, grammar, syntax, etc. of a language as if they were learning a language for the first time they are able to acquire it as proficiently as a native speaker. Most humans allow the grammar of previously learned languages affect and influence their ability to learn a second, third, etc. language. This is an issue that these polyglot savants do not struggle with. This ability may be tied directly to how these individuals organize Broca’s area of the brain however; their learning abilities for languages are unparalleled and still not 100% understood to this day.

There is still much research that needs to be done regarding the mechanisms through which polyglot savants acquire language. Although it is apparent that polyglot savants, such as Christopher, have amazing linguistic abilities, quite often, their general intellectual ability is impaired. Poor hand-eye coordination, weak problem solving abilities, and social and conversational problems, make every day tasks very difficult for Christopher. This, paired with his incredible ability to process languages, demonstrates the fact that there is still much to learn about the nature of learning new tasks, and how it ties in with learning new languages.

See also

• List of polyglots
• Polymath

References

• Newscientist.com, The Gift of the Gab", 2481, 40-43.

Further reading

• Babel No More: The Search for the World’s Most Extraordinary Language Learners. By Michael Erard. Free Press; 306 pages. ISBN 978-1-4516-2825-8
• "Adventures of a Polyglot: My Life in Two Worlds". By Giovanna S. Phillips. iUniverse; 248 pages. ISBN 978-0-5953-9994-9

External links

• Data on multilingualism in India
• Discussion forum about polyglots
• Non-profit Polyglot Community
• Multilingualism and Word Memorizing
• Stuart Jay Raj - Polyglot Language Blog
• International federation of language exchange clubs

English Journal

• The polyglot patent boom.

• Branstetter L1, Li G, Veloso F.
• Scientific American.Sci Am.2013 Oct;309(4):62-3.
• PMID 24137857

• The evolution of a visual-to-auditory sensory substitution device using interactive genetic algorithms.

• Wright T1, Ward J.Author information 1School of Psychology & Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, UK. t.d.wright@sussex.ac.ukAbstractSensory substitution is a promising technique for mitigating the loss of a sensory modality. Sensory substitution devices (SSDs) work by converting information from the impaired sense (e.g., vision) into another, intact sense (e.g., audition). However, there are a potentially infinite number of ways of converting images into sounds, and it is important that the conversion takes into account the limits of human perception and other user-related factors (e.g., whether the sounds are pleasant to listen to). The device explored here is termed "polyglot" because it generates a very large set of solutions. Specifically, we adapt a procedure that has been in widespread use in the design of technology but has rarely been used as a tool to explore perception-namely, interactive genetic algorithms. In this procedure, a very large range of potential sensory substitution devices can be explored by creating a set of "genes" with different allelic variants (e.g., different ways of translating luminance into loudness). The most successful devices are then "bred" together, and we statistically explore the characteristics of the selected-for traits after multiple generations. The aim of the present study is to produce design guidelines for a better SSD. In three experiments, we vary the way that the fitness of the device is computed: by asking the user to rate the auditory aesthetics of different devices (Experiment 1), and by measuring the ability of participants to match sounds to images (Experiment 2) and the ability to perceptually discriminate between two sounds derived from similar images (Experiment 3). In each case, the traits selected for by the genetic algorithm represent the ideal SSD for that task. Taken together, these traits can guide the design of a better SSD.
• Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006).Q J Exp Psychol (Hove).2013 Aug;66(8):1620-38. doi: 10.1080/17470218.2012.754911. Epub 2013 Jan 8.
• Sensory substitution is a promising technique for mitigating the loss of a sensory modality. Sensory substitution devices (SSDs) work by converting information from the impaired sense (e.g., vision) into another, intact sense (e.g., audition). However, there are a potentially infinite number of ways
• PMID 23298393

• The contributions of an Ottoman Empire polyglot to spinal anatomy: an interesting historical insight into a little known period in the history of neurosurgery.

• Goodrich JT.
• World neurosurgery.World Neurosurg.2013 Jan;79(1):95-6. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2012.04.022. Epub 2012 Apr 28.
• PMID 22548880

• Primary progressive aphasia in a bilingual speaker: a single-case study.

• Zanini S1, Angeli V, Tavano A.Author information 1Scientific Institute Eugenio Medea - Associazione La Nostra Famiglia', Pasian di Prato (UD), Italy. sergio.zanini@pp.lnf.itAbstractWe report on the case of an elderly bilingual woman presenting with a diagnosis of primary progressive aphasia. The participant's native language was Friulian (L1), a predominantly oral Romance language, and her second language was Italian (L2), formally learned at primary school in oral and written forms. We investigated her linguistic abilities by means of the Bilingual Aphasia Test ( Paradis, M., & Libben, G. (1987). The assessment of bilingual aphasia. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates), which is specifically devised for studying language levels and skills in bilingual/polyglot individuals with aphasia. Specifically, we focused on different tasks extracted from the Bilingual Aphasia Test, targeting phonology, morphology, syntax and lexical semantics. Results show that both languages were affected to a clinically significant degree, but with different profiles in terms of linguistic levels, suggesting the presence of greater phonological, morphological, grammatical and syntactic impairments in L2. Results are discussed in terms of possible dissociations both within the language system of each language and between languages, within the Procedural/Declarative theoretical framework of language acquisition in bilinguals.
• Clinical linguistics & phonetics.Clin Linguist Phon.2011 Jun;25(6-7):553-64. doi: 10.3109/02699206.2011.566464. Epub 2011 Jun 1.
• We report on the case of an elderly bilingual woman presenting with a diagnosis of primary progressive aphasia. The participant's native language was Friulian (L1), a predominantly oral Romance language, and her second language was Italian (L2), formally learned at primary school in oral and written
• PMID 21631307

Japanese Journal

• 長野県I地域における乳幼児期の子どもをもつ在日外国人に対する保健師の支援

• 大野 麻美,北山 秋雄
• 日本保健福祉学会誌 21(1), 57-65, 2014-09-20
• 保健師が乳幼児期の子どもをもつ在日外国人に対して行っている支援の現状と課題について探索することを目的とした。長野県I地域の市町村保健センターで母子保健サービスに従事しており、乳幼児期の子どもをもつ在日外国人と関わっている保健師のうち、同意が得られた8名の保健師を対象に半構成的面接を行い、得られたデータを質的帰納的に分析した。結果、1【母子保健サービスの利用を促す支援をする】、2【対人関係を大切にし …
• NAID 110009866316

• ポリグロット・サバン: 言語能力と言語運用に関する諸問題

• 星 宏人
• 秋田大学教養基礎教育研究年報 14, 59-67, 2012-03-26
• NAID 110009326763

• "Three Countries : Cameroon, France, Japan and their Language Policies"

• Paul Alexander" "Etoga
• 嘉悦大学研究論集 54(2), 51-66, 2012-03-20
• … 三か国語は「トライリンガル」で、三か国語以上出来る人は、""polyglot""(ポリグロット)になる。 … ""polyglot""自体は、ギリシヤ語に由来する単語であり、""polus""は「多く」と言う意味であり、そして""glotta""は、「言語」を意味する語である。 …
• NAID 120005538641

• Three Countries : Cameroon, France, Japan and their Language Policies

• ETOGA Paul Alexander
• 嘉悦大学研究論集 54(2), 51-66, 2012-03-20
• … 三か国語は「トライリンガル」で、三か国語以上出来る人は、"polyglot"(ポリグロット)になる。 … "polyglot"自体は、ギリシヤ語に由来する単語であり、"polus"は「多く」と言う意味であり、そして"glotta"は、「言語」を意味する語である。 …
• NAID 110008921079

Related Links

• Polyglot Club Official Website - Find a friend to exchange languages!

Learn a foreign language: online and offline language exchange, educational resources. Community of teachers and students from all around the world. Register for free and find a native speaker.

• Polyglotism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There is no consensus on exactly how many languages a person has to speak to be a polyglot. ... Others have suggested that becoming a polyglot has nothing to do with such factors and is actually just about hard work and the right type of ...

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