Native Language Shifts Across Sleep-wake States in Bilingual Sleeptalkers

Juan A. Pareja, Eloy de Pablos, Ana B. Caminero, Isabel Millán and José L. Dobato

Ariah Wong

Introduction

Sleep talking (somniloquy)the utterance of speech or sounds

during sleep without simultaneous subjective detailed awareness of the event.

mumbled nonsense to coherent sentences

More frequent in children & teenagers

Associated with REM & NREM sleep

Purpose

Study which language is used when healthy bilingual individuals are sleep talking

Dominant bilinguals – use dominant language to sleep talk

Balanced bilinguals – use?

Method

Subjects681 Children

336 males, 341 females, 4 unknown Age 3-17 (mean age: 9.0) 3 bilingual schools in northern Spain

Languages: Spanish & Euskera

Male336

Fe-male 341

??? 4

Method

ProcedureParents completed self-administered

questionnaire What was the 1st language learned by your

child? Does your child sleep talk? If yes, how

frequent and in what language?Reliable answers

Skip questions in doubt Contact investigator to clarify any

questions

Results

383 of 680 subjects were sleep talking (56.3%)

Results

< 1 night 1-2 nights 3-4 nights 5-8 nights > 8 nights

0

20

40

60

80

100

Frequency of Sleep talking

# per Month

% o

f S

ub

jects

Results

Euskera Spanish Both0

102030405060708090

100

Language used in Sleep talking

EuskeraSpanishBoth w/o pref-erence

Native Languages

% o

f S

ub

jects

Discussion

Balanced bilingualsSleep talk in either language (no

preference) Dominant bilinguals

Mostly sleep talk in the dominant language

Discussion

Less than 4% of dominant bilinguals sleep talked in their non-dominant language

Language shift:Due to emotional stressDifferent language organization

Learn languages early = same brain areas Learn one language earlier, one later =

different brain areas

Discussion

StrengthsEasy to read, organizedGood sample size & balance of genders

LimitationsNo clear hypothesisBasing study on parents’ opinionsNo relation to specific brain structures

Frontal & temporal cortex, basal ganglia?

Discussion

Future researchUse video surveillance/recording systemGender differences Multilinguals (know 2+ languages)Sleep is related to anatomical &

physiological structure of languageNarrower age range

References

American Academy of Sleep Medicine. (2001). The international classification of sleep disorders: diagnostic and coding manual. 157-159.

Arkin, AM. (1966). Sleep talking: a review. Journal of nervous and mental disease, 143, 101-122.

Arkin, AM., Toth, MF., Baker, J., & Hastey, JM. (1970). The frequency of sleep talking in the laboratory among chronic sleeptalkers and good dream recallers. Journal of nervous and mental disease, 151(9), 369-374

Pareja, JA., de Pablos, E., Caminero, AB., Millan, I., & Dobato, JL. (1999). Native language shifts across sleep-wake states in bilingual sleeptalkers. Sleep, 22(2), 243-247.

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