Dugon, Haus You Dinikin, Du-Ah, secrets of twin speak

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The discussion centers around the phenomenon of twins creating their own languages, known as "cryptophasia" or "twin language." This topic has gained attention due to viral media and scientific interest in how such languages may reflect the origins of human communication. Participants share personal anecdotes about their experiences with twins and their unique linguistic developments. Some mention that these private languages can include words that only make sense to the twins, often with one twin taking on a more dominant role in communication. Concerns are raised about whether these languages might hinder speech development in adulthood, although many participants express fascination with the concept. The conversation also touches on cultural events like the Twins Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio, and the ongoing interest in the dynamics of twin relationships and their communication styles.
rhody
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When I was 6, my 2-year-old brother started speaking, but in a language of his own devising. I was eager to enlist him in games (my favorite: "Slave") and so quickly mastered his lexicon. My parents never managed to, despite their advanced degrees, and so our dinner table came to resemble a Camp David summit—two sides forced to use a translator to argue for their conflicting philosophies of life. "Eat peas!" "Throw peas!" "Feet on the floor!" "Feet in the tuna casserole!"

Siblings, and especially twins, have been inventing private languages since time immemorial, to little fanfare, but recently such ingenuity has captured the public's imagination. This spring, a YouTube video of jabbering twins went viral, and even made it into the New York Times' Well blog. The Washington Post recently celebrated a new play that revolves around a similar pair of girls and their "secret twin-speak." Scientists, meanwhile, have spent the last few decades quietly building up a body of research into what they call "cryptophasia" or "twin language," and they are of two minds about it. They find it fascinating, as a window onto the origins of human language, but they also worry that it hampers children's development.

For all PF twins or members who have twins in their families, I am interested in what stories you have relating to this article, and second, if you are close to twins who developed partial or complete lanaguage, did it negatively affect their speech as adults.

Finally, in the words of the great Pengwuino, DISCUSS !

Rhody...
 
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I've tried inventing my own languages, and they almost always wind up looking like Native American languages, which are, in turn, just about the opposite of twin languages. (The verbs are not only highly conjugated, but are, in fact, the base form of all nouns and verbs, with the meaning of the base form of the verb being stative (e.g., the verb "eat" more nearly means "being in the condition of eating"). Besides this, Native American languages also have lots of directional particles, noun-class particles (such that a proper noun such as "Annie" might be rendered as "Woman Annie", and other such, which makes these languages very complicated to learn, but allows for great precision in expression.
 
There must be at least one set of twins on PF or a member who knows of a set of twins who did this.

Rhody... shamelessly bumps his own thread, the nerve !
 
rhody said:
There must be at least one set of twins on PF or a member who knows of a set of twins who did this.

Rhody... shamelessly bumps his own thread, the nerve !

Our oldest are twins - boy/girl - and my wife is very active in the Mother of Twins clubs. Accordingly, we make the annual trip to Twinsburg, OH for the twins festival.

I've gotten to know a few elderly sets of twins - they're the ones with the evolved secret languages.

Ours had words that only made sense to them. Our daughter made up most of the words and he mimicked (mostly). She also did most of the talking and typically said "we" - rather than "I" or "me".

As much as they claim to be different - they tend to do a lot of things the same (they don't realize it).
 
WhoWee said:
Our oldest are twins - boy/girl - and my wife is very active in the Mother of Twins clubs. Accordingly, we make the annual trip to Twinsburg, OH for the twins festival.

I've gotten to know a few elderly sets of twins - they're the ones with the evolved secret languages.

Ours had words that only made sense to them. Our daughter made up most of the words and he mimicked (mostly). She also did most of the talking and typically said "we" - rather than "I" or "me".

As much as they claim to be different - they tend to do a lot of things the same (they don't realize it).

WhoWee,

That is cool. The next time you are together, maybe you could post a sentence of two of their conversations, and a translation for us mere mortals.

Rhody...
 
The Mothers of Twins members call it "twinese".

http://www.whattoexpect.com/blogs/twinsamothersjoyandinsanitydoubled/language-development-in-toddlerstwinese
http://multiples.about.com/od/twintoddlers/a/twintalk.htm

Our twins are apart for the first time - different colleges. I'll ask them separately for a few words - to see if there's a difference. My wife and I compared notes and (let's just say) our data didn't coincide.
 
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