Glossolalia, also called “speaking in tongues”, comes from the Greek “glossa” which means “tongue” and “lalia” which means “to speak”. From a linguistic point of view, glossolalia is characterized by the virtual absence of recognizable words or semantic contents. Glossolalia is not a communication tool. It is generally considered to be a spiritual experience and an act of intimate communication. The question of therapy is controversial and probably irrelevant.

What is it ?

Glossolalia, also called “speaking in tongues”, comes from the Greek “glossa” which means “tongue” and “lalia” which means “to speak”. From a linguistic point of view, glossolalia is characterized by the virtual absence of recognizable words or semantic contents, with the exception of biblical words and phrases, with an over-representation of a small number of phonemes, an acceleration of vocal production and modification of accents and melodies. Its phonemic properties resemble those of the speaker’s language (s).

The “glossolalist” claims to have no control over the language he or she speaks. This lack of control also applies to vocalizations. Although these vocalizations do not appear to have a clear linguistic structure, the person perceives glossolalia as having great personal and spiritual significance. Several studies have described two different types of glossolalia. The first could be considered as a public form of glossolalia and the second as a private form:

• A dramatic form involving chants, vocal expressions and ecstatic bodily experiences;
• Another form is softer, almost silent, calm and engaging, with pleasant emotions.

Glossolalia is not a communication tool. It is generally viewed as a spiritual experience like meditation, and it is often an act of intimate communication. It is described as an ecstatic expression in a religious group, which leads to trance during usual religious rituals.

Glossolalia has also been described in people with mental disorders. In 1927, psychologist Cutten explicitly put forward the idea that glossolalia was linked to schizophrenia and hysteria. But the relationship between glossolalia and psychopathology remains uncertain.

Unlike aphasia – language disorder characterized by certain phonological and grammatical rules – glossolalia is not associated with a disease of the central nervous system.

How to recognize glossolalia

Glossolalia leads to overrepresentation of small numbers of phonemes, acceleration of vocal production, and modification of accents and melodies.

Several specificities of glossolalia have been revealed by intercultural studies:

• Phonetically, each impulse begins with a consonant;
• Bars are usually of equal length, especially if pauses are also taken into account, as in music;
• Primary and secondary accents are present;
• The sentences are the same length.

Risk factors

There are no risk factors for glossolalia.

Religious prayer groups

The meaning, significance and function of glossolalia are closely related to the social and cultural context, and therefore glossolalia is experienced as normal and expected behavior in religious prayer groups.

Psychopathological symptom

Some studies have put forward the idea of ​​a positive correlation between glossolalia activity and mental disorders – schizophrenia, manic depression – but the international classification of diseases (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) has not listed glossolalia as psychopathological symptom.

Activation of mirror neurons

Pilot neuroscientific data suggests that glossolalia is associated with deactivation of the cognitive system and activation of parts of mirror neural networks – these neurons help a person mimic movements and actions and can function implicitly.

Glossolalia does not cause complications in practitioners. It should be noted that the frequency of depression is even lower among “glossolalists” than in a control population. However, anxiety appears to be a correlate for developing the ability to glossolalia. Interestingly, some studies have shown that many religious have better emotional stability and fewer neurotic traits, without negative psychological effects.

Given the definition of glossolalia, the question of therapy is controversial and probably irrelevant. It is not a disease but fundamentally a religious expression. It is not necessary to treat a person as a “glossolalist” because he chooses when to produce his tongue and when to produce his glossolalia experience.

In addition, some studies even show that glossolalia could be a therapeutic tool in psychologically unstable patients and help them resolve internal psychic conflicts.

The question remains for the rarer cases where glossolalia has been reported in association with a mental illness: epilepsy, mental disorders, etc. In this case, the treatment should be that of the disease.