33 the cutoff for acquiring a native-like pronunciation: See, for example, Kenneth Hyltenstam and Niclas Abrahamsson, “Who Can Become Native-like in a Second Language? All, Some, or None?” Studia Linguistica, 54:2 (2000), 150–66.
34–35 “a riot of linguistic variation”: Martin Maiden, “The Definition of Multilingualism in Historical Perspective,” in A. Lepschy and A. Tosi (eds.), Multilingualism in Italy Past and Present (Oxford: Legenda, 2002), 29–46.
35 Jesuit missionaries who had been expelled: Charles Russell, The Life of Cardinal Mezzofanti, with an Introductory Memoir of Eminent Linguists, Ancient and Modern (London: Longman, Brown, and Co., 1858), 133.
36 “Through the grace of God”: Ibid., 54.
37 “I made it a rule to learn every new grammar”: Ibid., 156–57.
37 noted one writer, “indicates delicacy”: Ibid., 263.
37 “monkey-like, restless motion”: Ibid., 389.
37 “never . . . permitted himself the indulgence of a fire” Ibid., 161.
37 scaldino (or scaldén): Pietro Mainoldi, Vocabolario del dialetto bolognese (Bologna: Arnaldo Forni Editore, 1996).
37 would not let people kiss his ring: Russell, Life, 429.
37 confer God’s forgiveness before they went to the gallows: Ibid., 129.
38 enough Sardinian to hear the maid’s sins: Ibid., 158–59.
Chapter 4
41 disparate accounts of the Bolognese lion of languages: Thomas Watts, “On the Extraordinary Powers of Cardinal Mezzofanti as a Linguist,” Transactions of the Philological Society, 5 (Jan. 23, 1852), 115. See also Thomas Watts, “On M. Manavit’s Life of Cardinal Mezzofanti,” Transactions of the Philological Society, 7 (1854), 133–50; Thomas Watts, “On Dr. Russell’s Life of Cardinal Mezzofanti,” Transactions of the Philological Society (1859), 227–256.
41 Watts himself was said to read fifty languages: George Borrow, Isopel Berners (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1901).
42 British traveler Tom Coryat: Charles Russell, The Life of Cardinal Mezzofanti, with an Introductory Memoir of Eminent Linguists, Ancient and Modern (London: Longman, Brown, and Co., 1858), 120.
42 who said that he knew twenty-eight languages: By Jones’s own admission. Russell quotes a document written by Jones: Ibid., 89.
42 “Cardinal Mezzofanti” will be found: Ibid., 121.
43 “pronunciation, at least, is described as quite perfect”: Ibid., 470.
43 “and with a purity of accent, of vocabulary, and of idiom”: Ibid.
43 “speak it correctly and idiomatically”: Ibid., 460.
43 “on a level with the majority of the natives”: Watts, “On the Extraordinary Powers,” 112.
43 “great spirit and precision”: Watts, “On Dr. Russell’s Life,” 237.
44 eleven linguistic families: Russell, Life, 467.
44 reduced the overall repertoire to sixty or sixty-one: Watts, “On Dr. Russell’s Life,” 242.
45 Arab audiences also prefer truthful speech: “Arabic Media and Public Appearance Forum” (Washington, DC: Center for the Advanced Study of Language, 2005), 16.
45 are born to hearing, nonsigning parents: Brendan Costello, Javier Fernández, and Alazne Landa, “The Non-(existent) Native Signer: Sign Language Research in a Small Deaf Population,” paper presented at Ninth Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research Conference, 2006.
45 no native signing community: MLA, 2009. Also see Tamar Lewin, “Colleges See 16% Rise in Study of Sign Language,” New York Times, Dec. 8, 2010.
46 “too correct to appear completely natural”: Russell, Life, 403.
46 knowing French to the satisfaction of Harvard College: “A knowledge of the language itself, rather than of the grammar, is expected; but proficiency in elementary grammar, a good pronunciation, or facility in speaking the language will be accepted as an offset for some deficiency in translation,” read the Harvard handbook. Cited in David Barnwell, A History of Foreign Language Testing in the United States (Tempe, AZ: Bilingual Press, 1996), 1.
47 fluent, though accented, Arabic: See Fawn M. Brodie, The Devil Drives (New York: W. W. Norton, 1984). Brodie’s book has notes to sources of the claim of twenty-nine languages and eleven dialects that I mention in the footnote. The information about Burton’s Hindustani exam comes from Edward Rice, Sir Richard Francis Burton: A Biography (New York: Da Capo Press, 2001). See also James Milton, “The Lessons of Excellence: Sir Richard Francis Burton and Language Learning,” The Linguist, 40:5 (2001), 135–39.
48 who made the fastest progress: Joseph De Koninck, “Intensive Language Learning and Increases in Rapid Eye Movement Sleep: Evidence of a Performance Factor,” International Journal of Psychophysiology, 8 (1989), 43–47.
48 improved the most: Joseph De Koninck, “Intensive Learning, REM Sleep, and REM Sleep Mentation,” Sleep Research Bulletin, 1:2 (1995), 39–40.
49 [the language] they used right before they slept: David Foulkes, Barbara Meier, Inge Strauch, et al., “Linguistic Phenomena and Language Selection in the REM Dreams of German-English Bilinguals,” International Journal of Psychology, 28:3 (1993), 871–91.
49 greener, less purple color: Leigh Caskey-Sirmons and Nancy Hickerson, “Semantic Shift and Bilingualism: Variation in the Color Terms of Five Languages,” Anthropological Linguistics, 19 (1977), 358–67.
49 even conceptualize time differently from monolinguals: Panos Athanasopolous and C. Kasai, “Language and Thought in Bilinguals: The Case of Grammatical Number and Nonverbal Classification Preferences,” Applied Psycholinguistics, 29 (2008), 105–23.
49 aren’t equally disordered in each of their languages: F. I. de Zulueta, N. Gene-Cos, and S. Grachev, “Differential Psychotic Symptomatology in Polyglot Patients: Case Reports and Their Implications,” British Journal of Medical Psychology, 74 (2001), 277–92. See also R. E. Hemphill, 1971, “Auditory Hallucinations in Polyglots,” South African Medical Journal, Dec. 18, 1971, 1391–94.
50 spoke in English, he went ‘mad’”: F. I. de Zulueta, “The Implications of Bilingualism in the Study and Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders: A Review,” Psychological Medicine, 14 (1984), 541–57.
51 “a community imagined by language”: Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (London: Verso 1983).
52 “not failed native speakers”: Vivian Cook, “Going Beyond the Native Speaker in Language Teaching,” TESOL Quarterly, 33:2 (1999), 204.
52 two or three monolingual speakers’ worth of language in his or her head: Vivian Cook, “Multicompetence and the Learning of Many Languages,” Language, Culture, and Curriculum, 8:2 (1995), 94.
53 current European Commission standard: Brian North, The Development of a Common Framework Scale of Language Proficiency (New York: Peter Lang, 2000), 281.
53 language competitions . . . German government: J. R. Campbell, H. Wagner, and H. Walberg, “Academic Competitions and Programs Designed to Challenge the Exceptionally Talented,” in Kurt A. Heller, Franz J. Mönks, Robert J. Sternberg, and Rena F. Subotnik (eds.), International Handbook of Giftedness and Talent, 2nd ed. (Oxford, UK: Elsevier, 2000).
54 Yet only 2 of the 104 pilots: Patricia Sullivan and Handan Girginer, “The Use of Discourse Analysis to Enhance ESP Teacher Knowledge: An Example Using Aviation English,” English for Specific Purposes, 21:4 (2002), 397–404.
55 only about one-quarter . . . concerns the actual flying: Jeremy Mell, “Dialogue in Abnormal Situations of Air Traffic Control,” Cahiers du Centre Interdisciplinaire des Sciences du Langage, 10 (1994), 263–72.
55 “What does ‘pull up, pull up’ mean?”: Atsushi Tajima, “Fatal Miscommunication: English in Aviation Safety,” World Englishes, 23:3 (2004), 456.
55 confusion was a major cause of the accident: David A. Simon, “Boeing 757 CFIT Accident at Cali, Colombia, Becomes Focus of Lessons Learned,” Flight Safety Digest, May/June 1998, 1–31.
55 couldn’t convey his misgivings to the crew: Peter Ladkin, “AA965 Cali Accident Report near Buga, Colombia, Dec 20, 1995,” ht
tp://sunnyday.mit.edu/accidents/calirep.html.
57 about the period of Mezzofanti’s life between 1812 and 1831: Franco Pasti, Un poliglotta in biblioteca: Giuseppe Mezzofanti (1774–1849) a Bologna nell etá della restaurazione (Bologna: Patron Editore, 2006).
Part 2 APPROACH: Tracking Down Hyperpolyglots
Chapter 5
67 a popular forum with language scientists: LINGUIST 7.881, Wed., June 12, 1996.
68 Hudson passed the mail on to linguists: LINGUIST 14.2923, Sun., Oct. 26, 2003.
71 £1.3 billion a year: David Graddol, English Next (2006), www.britishcouncil.org/learning-research-english-next.pdf.
71 the most multilingual city on the planet: Philip Baker and John Eversley, Multilingual Capital (London: Battlebridge, 2000).
Chapter 6
73 read his Washington Post obituary: Joe Holley, “George Campbell Dies; Spoke 44 Languages,” Washington Post, Dec. 20, 2004.
74 Elizabeth Kulman: “Mastering Languages,” Dakota Republican, 14:45, Supplement 4 (Nov. 12, 1874).
74 should be content to serve the humble role of a blacksmith”: “Rome’s Learned Vulcan,” Idaho Daily Statesman, Oct. 27, 1898, 5.
74 manual labor and reading foreign languages: Ibid., 21.
75 granted Burritt thirty languages: Peter Tolis, Elihu Burritt: Crusader for Brotherhood (Hamden, CT: Archon Press, 1968), 16–17.
75 carried his Greek and Latin grammars to work in his hat: Elihu Burritt, “Autobiography of the Author,” in Ten-Minute Talks on All Sorts of Topics (Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1873), 11.
76 “His compulsive and erratic study of languages: Tolis, Elihu Burritt, 21.
77 “there was something to live for”: Elihu Burritt, Lectures and Speeches (London: Sampson Low, Son, and Marston, 1869), 174.
77 never paid for a hotel room or riverboat passage: Ellen Strong Bartlett, “Elihu Burritt—The Learned Blacksmith,” New England Magazine, 16: 4 (1897), 21–22.
77 Sanskrit Lessons for Young Yankee Ladies: Letter from Burritt to “Miss Butler,” 1878.
77 a plaster cast of Burritt’s skull was taken: Everything in this section comes from Lorenzo Fowler, The American Phrenological Journal and Miscellany, OS Fowler (ed.) Fowlers and Wells, 9 (1847), 269. There was also an earlier note that appeared in the American Phrenological Journal and Miscellany, 3, (1841).
79 Sidis was also doing at the age of four: “Give Easy Recipe for Child Prodigies,” New York Times, Oct. 31, 1920.
79 probably didn’t speak those seventeen languages, either: “Winifred Stoner Plea Calls Count a Faker,” New York Times, March 19, 1930.
79 world tour to “find geniuses”: “Stoners to Start Hunt for Geniuses,” New York Times, Aug. 3, 1927.
80 had her marriage annulled: “Winifred Stoner Plea Calls Count a Faker,” New York Times, March 19, 1930.
80 couldn’t say “no” in any of them: The joke was first written in 1931 by a Chicago Tribune columnist, Richard Henry Little, though it has also been attributed to Dorothy Parker. Little’s version goes, “Winifred Stackville Stoner II, now twenty-nine and who is reported in the public press as having just left her third, was renowned at the age of six, when she wrote a book, as a child genius. And a few years later, with her hair still in pigtails, it was proudly proclaimed that Winifred could speak twelve languages. But apparently Winifred never learned to say ‘no’ in any of them and hiked up to the altar as fast as anybody suggested the idea.”
80 by lunchtime, Hale . . . would be conversing fluently: See the MIT tribute web page for Ken Hale, which contains many of these and other stories, here: http://web.mit.edu/linguistics/events/tributes/hale/testimonies.html.
80 admiring lore was matched by his colleagues’ regard: Victor Golla, “Hale, Wurm, and Mezzofanti,” SSILA Newsletter, 20:4 (Jan. 2002), 2–4.
82 denials were rejected: Lisa Cheng and Rint Sybesma, “The Excitement Comes from the Language Itself!,” Glot, 2: 9/10 (Dec. 1996).
84 he quips in one video: www.ganahl.info/videos/Wojia.mp4.
84 something of a manifesto: Rainer Ganahl, “Travelling Linguistics,” www.ganahl.info/t_travelling_linguistics.html.
85 191 million in 2005: Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, Trends in Total Migrant Stock: The 2005 Revision (New York: United Nations, 2006).
85 World Bank statistics from 2005: Dilip Ratha and William Shaw, South-South Migration and Remittances, World Bank Working Paper no. 102 (2005), 2.
85 The bulk moved within Europe/Central Asia: Ibid., 7.
85 anticipates 1.6 billion a year by 2020: World Tourism Organization, Tourism 2020 Vision.
85 “The will to plasticity” . . . among them, language circuits: To borrow a phrase from Pierre Kosslowski (Daniel W. Smith, trans.), Nietzsche and the Vicious Circle (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997), 46.
86 “Plasticity is an intrinsic property of the human brain,” Alvaro Pascual-Leone, Amir Amedi, Felipe Fregni, and Lotfi Merabet, “The Plastic Human Brain Cortex,” Annual Review of Neuroscience, 28 (2005), 377. See also Peter Huttenlocher, Neural Plasticity: The Effects of Environment on the Development of the Cerebral Cortex (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002).
86 self-help guru Tim Ferriss published “language hacking” guides on his website: www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/11/07/how-to-learn-but-not-master-any-language-in-1-hour-plus-a-favor/.
86 A New York–based writer, Ellen Jovin, has a blog: www.ellenjovin.com.
Chapter 7
94 “He spends most of his waking hours digging in the garden”: Neil Smith and Ianthi Tsimpli, The Mind of a Savant: Language Learning and Modularity (London: Wiley-Blackwell, 1995), 2.
94 Christopher can translate from and communicate in: Ibid., 12.
96 Given a newspaper in one of his languages: Ibid., 82.
96 didn’t get better at distinguishing syntactically: Ibid., 92.
96 Normal second-language learners have a harder time: Gary Morgan et al., “Language Against the Odds: The Learning of British Sign Language by a Polyglot Savant,” Journal of Linguistics, 38 (2002), 4.
96 “basically English with a range of alternative veneers”: Smith and Tsimpli, Mind of a Savant, 122.
97 experiment they document: Neil Smith, Ianthi Tsimpli, Gary Morgan, and Bencie Woll, The Signs of a Savant: Language Against the Odds (Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, 2011).
98 “a working knowledge of French, Spanish”: Bernard Rimland, “Savant Capabilities of Autistic Children and Their Cognitive Implications,” in G. Serban (ed.), Cognitive Defects in the Development of Mental Illness (New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1878), 43–65. Quoted in David Birdsong’s Contemporary Psychology review of Smith and Tsimpli, Mind of a Savant, cited above.
98 or that his fascination with languages was so remarkable: Elizabeth Bates. “On Language Savants and the Structure of the Mind.” International Journal of Bilingualism, 1:2 (1997), 163–79.
98 rote memory, considered one hallmark: S. Bölte and F. Poustka: “Comparing the Intelligence Profiles of Savant and Nonsavant Individuals with Autistic Disorder,” Intelligence, 32 (2004), 121–31.
98 “Christopher is not so much a successful learner of languages”: David Birdsong, “An Interesting Subject Indeed,” Contemporary Psychology, 41:8 (1996), 837–38.
98 “no relevant evidence” for language talents: Ibid., 182.
98 “supremely gifted at learning new languages”: Smith, Tsimpli, Morgan, and Woll, Signs of a Savant., 40.
99 a very nearly complete handbook: Amorey Gethin and Erik V. Gunnemark, The Art and Science of Learning Languages (Oxford, UK: Intellect Books: 1996).
100 “three pillars” of language learning: Ibid., 26.
101 She’d also written a memoir: Scott Alkire, “Kató Lomb’s Strategies for Language Learning and SLA,” The International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 1:4 (Fall 2005), 17–26.
101 learning her seventeenth language, Hebrew: Stephen Krashen and Natasha Kiss, �
��Notes on a Polyglot: Kató Lomb,” System, 24:2 (1996), 207–10.
102 they “acquire” it: Stephen Krashen, “Case Histories and the Comprehension Hypothesis,” Plenary Address, English Teaching Association Conference, 2007, www.eslminiconf.net/september/krashen.html.
102 “(I was fifty-four at the time)”: Ibid.
103 “remove the mystical fog”: Kató Lomb, Polyglot: How I Learn Languages (ádám Szegi and Kornelia DeKorne, trans.; Scott Alkire, ed.) (Berkeley, CA: TESL-EJ, 2008).
103 “Be firmly convinced that you are a linguistic genius”: Lomb, Ibid., 161.
103 “The language learning method that is good”: Ibid., 76.
103 “all I suggest is that monologues be silent”: Ibid., 77.
103 the difference between finding entertainment: Peter Skehan, A Cognitive Approach to Language Learning (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1998), 17.
103 “I will sooner see a UFO than a dative case”: Lomb, Polyglot, 122.
104 “live inside me simultaneously with Hungarian”: Ibid., viii.
104 ability to “switch between any of these languages”: Ibid.
104 English at the age of twenty-four: Ibid.
104 Russian at thirty-two: Ibid.
104 brush up for half a day: Ibid., xvii.
104 “the same level of ability”: Ibid.
Chapter 8
106 1996 news report: All the biographical information here comes from Tova Chapoval, “One-Man Tower of Babel; Fluent in 58 Languages, Brazilian Tries to Sell Method,” Washington Post, Dec. 27, 1996, B8.
108 In 2006, when Israel bombed and invaded: Alexander Arguelles’s account was published in the San Jose Mercury News on Aug. 13, 2006, “Deliverance: Thousands Fled Israeli Bombs Pummeling Lebanon. This Is the Story of One American Family’s Escape.”
109 everyone could see Fazah’s spectacular failure. As of April 2011, the video was posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XA1Ifi-ntE.
110 “one of billions of people who are unable to speak fifty-nine languages”: http://ardentagnostic.blogspot.com/2009/03/ziad-fazah-man-who-does-not-speak-59.html.
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