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Źródło: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20241025-do-twins-have-a-secret-language

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'It's a unique language spoken by two people': The twins who created their own language

'It's a unique language spoken by two people': The twins who created their own language

Up to 50% of twins developrozwijać their own communication patternwzorzec komunikacji with one another. Most lose itstracić to over time, but for the Youlden twins it has become a normal way of communicating.

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Twins Matthew and Michael Youlden speak 25 languages each. The 26th is Umeri, which they don't include in their tallyliczba.

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If you've not heard ofsłyszał o Umeri, there's good reason for thatdobry powód do tego. Michael and Matthew are the only two people who speak, read and write it, having createdstworzyli it themselves as children.

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The brothers insist Umeri isn't an intentionallycelowo secret language.

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"Umeri isn't ever reduced tosprowadzony do a language used to keep things private," they say in an email. "It definitely has a very sentimentalsentymantalny value to us, as it reflects the deep bondgłęboka więź we share as identical twins."

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"Based on available studies, it is safe to say that about 40% of twin toddlers engage in some form of 'twin-speakjęzyk bliźniąt'," writes Segal. "But that figure does not conveyprzekazać just how complex twins' language development turns outokazuje się to be."

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"I was a little surprisedzaskoczony that they saw each otherzobaczyli się nawzajem," remembers Johannink. "They thought: 'Hey, I'm not alone in this moment. There's another one of me! It's us against the worldJesteśmy przeciwko całemu światu.'"

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Segal explains that like Merle and Stijn (who went onkontynuowali to lose their shared languagewspólny język when they learnt Dutch), most twins outgrowwyrosnąć z their private wordsprywatne słowa as they gain more exposureekspozycja to other people beyond the home.

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But for the Youlden twins, this wasn't the case. They didn't outgrowwyrosnąć z their language. Quite the contrarywręcz przeciwnie, they enrichedwzbogacili and perfected it over the yearsna przestrzeni lat.

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Born and raised in Manchester in the UK, the Youlden twins grew up surrounded by different ethnicitiesgrupy etniczne and cultures, fostering a love of languagespielęgnowanie miłości do języków.

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Memories of when Umeri first began are hazyniewyraźny, but the brothers remember their grandfather being confused when as pre-schoolers, the two would share a jokedzielić się żartem between themselves he would not understand.

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Then came their first family holiday abroad, at the age of eight. They were headed to Spain and decided they were going to learn Spanish, convincedprzekonani that if they didn't, they'd struggle to order ice cream. Armed with a dictionaryuzbrojeni w słownik and with little understanding of how the grammar worked, they began to translate phrases word for wordsłowo w słowo from English into Spanish. Later they took onpodjęli się Italian, and then turned their attention tozwrócili swoją uwagę na learning Scandinavian languages. Pooling together various grammatical elements of all the languages they had studied, the brothers realised Umeri could actually become a fully-fledgedw pełni rozwinięty language itself.

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This chimes withzgadza się z Segal's observations. According to her, in general, "twins do not invent a new language, they tend to produce atypicalnietypowy forms of the language they are exposed to. Even though it's unintelligibleniezrozumiały, they still direct it to other people".

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The Youlden twins began to standardisezaczęli standaryzować and codifykodyfikować Umeri. At one point, they even tried to design their own alphabet but realised (when they got their first computer) it would be of little use considering there was no Umeri font. Umeri is now written using the Latin alphabetużywając alfabetu łacińskiego.

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Preservingzachowanie a language spoken by few people comes with its own challengeswiąże się z własnymi wyzwaniami, however.

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"Twins have this shared languagewspólny język, that at some point they stop using, as if they feel ashamedzawstydzony of it," says Matthew. "This is also not something unique to twin languagesjęzyki bliźniacze."

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When the brothers would swerve offzbaczać to converserozmawiać in their own language when with extended familydalsza rodzina, the response tended to be "they're off doing the language thingzajmować się swoim językiem again", recalls Matthew.

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Karen Thorpe is a specialistspecjalista in child developmentrozwój dziecka, education and care research at the Queensland Brain Institute at the University of Queensland. She has in previous roles extensivelyobszernie studied language developmentrozwój języka in twins.

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"For me, it's about a very close relationship," she says. "Rather than seeing it as something strange and unusual, private languageprywatny język is really about a beautiful thing that humans do when they're very, very close to one another. But is that exclusivewyłączny to twins? I don't think so. I think it's exclusivewyłączny to very special, close relationshipsbliskie relacje."

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For others, such as the Youldens, the languages are a combination of closeness and intellectual curiositypołączenie bliskości i intelektualnej ciekawości, though Thorpe says this long-term, conscious developmentdługoterminowe, świadome rozwijanie of a private language is relatively rare.

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There are limited case studies available on cryptophasiakryptofazja – or "twin languagejęzyk bliźniąt" – and some of the most well-known are rooted inzakorzenione w psychiatrypsychiatria.

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"One thing I tell parents is: make sure you talk to your children one at a time, so that they have exposureekspozycja to language," recommends Segal. "One problem with twins is that parents tend to leave them alonezostawić ich samych because they entertain each other, but then they don't have adult language modelsdorosłe wzorce językowe."

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For the Youlden twins, creating Umeri has been nothing but a positive experiencenic innego jak pozytywne doświadczenie. The language is constantly developing as the brothers think of new words for things that have emergedpojawiły się with modern day lifewspółczesne życie. "Whether it's 'iPad' or 'lightning cable' – all of these are words that didn't exist 20 or 30 years ago," says Matthew.

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They now run their ownprowadzić własną language coaching companyfirma zajmująca się nauką języków supporting individuals, educational institutions and private companies with language learning. Michael lives in Grand Canaria and Matthew in the Basque Country. They still converserozmawiać with one another in Umeri.

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They don't plan to pass downprzekazać the language to any children they may have in the future, however, finding it strangedziwne to share the languagedzielić się językiem with someone else.

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"It's a unique language spoken by two people," says Michael.  "It's one of those thingscoś, co się zdarza that unfortunately does have an expiry datedata ważności to it."

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