Cryptophasia is the name given for the secret language of twins!
Cryptophasia is the name
given for the secret language of twins! The twins may be fraternal or
identical, but this phenomenon is a language developed between these two
children that only they can understand. In the word Cryptophasia, crypto means secret and phasia mean speech. Today we understand that twin languages are not as unusual as originally
thought, even for translation experts.
Idioglossia,
or Autonomous Languages
Languages that have been invented and are only spoken by a few
people are referred to as Idioglossia, or autonomous languages. Young people
from every generation have been able to communicate secretly by developing a
few code or slang words; but because twins are together from the moment of
their birth, and because both their linguistic and mental development is so in
sync, they’re more likely to invent a language that’s exclusive to themselves.
This language will exclude everyone else - and this includes their parents and
their peers. It’s believed that Cryptophasia occurs amongst almost 50% of
twins, both fraternal and identical.
Looking
Deeper into Cryptophasia
Interestingly, when we look a little deeper into Cryptophasia we
discover that this phenomenon is most likely to be the toddlers’ mother tongue,
but with words being mispronounced. Obviously, this is a phase that all
children go through, but, because twins are able to understand each other to
the exclusion of everyone else, it’s thought that these mistakes simply become
reinforced while the mother tongue continuously flows around the children. In
fact, in very rare cases a twin language can flourish throughout their
lifetime, with neither of the children ever developing fluency in their mother
tongue.
Of course, code languages have existed since the beginning of
civilization, and they’ve been used in various circumstances and for various
reasons. With Cryptophasia, the language developed by twins can reach
astonishing levels of complexity, so-much-so that while it’s certainly fascinating,
it can become quite disturbing for parents to see their children speaking in a
strange language that only they can speak; a language that has its own
vocabulary, forms and expressions - a language completely indecipherable to
anyone other than the two children concerned. If there is a downside to
Cryptophasia it’s that if-and-when the twins decide to, or are forced to learn
their mother tongue, they often experience difficulties. Many of these twins
retain a quasi-foreign accent for the rest of their lives.
Creating
a New Language
Translation experts
and people who have studied the topic of Cryptophasia believe that artificially
creating a language like twins do is precisely how different languages have
emerged throughout history. They start with simple words, evolving over time to
include grammar and structures, and continue developing as the language expands
throughout a group of people, and finally over generations.