LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Speech and Language Characteristics of Monozygotic Twins -
A Case Study

Rhea Mariam Korah, M.Sc. Student; Prasad, J. M.Sc. Student and
N. Sreedevi, Ph.D.

Abstract

There are several reports of twins having a risk of language deviancy which may be because of one twin modelling the immature or disordered speech pattern of their co-twin, which results in the incorrect use of speech sounds and grammar by both the twins. This gives the impression of a secret language between the twins which is called as 'Idioglossia'.

Although the concept of Idioglossia is a popular belief, the language of twins have rarely been described in detail or analyzed satisfactorily by the researchers especially in the Indian context.

The present case report aims to describe the speech and language characteristics of a pair of monozygotic male twins of 5.6 years with Kannada as their mother tongue. The paper discusses the concept of Idioglossia; whether it is a myth or a fact? The paper also discusses the speech language characteristics and the speech and language therapy reports of the two twins.

The study finds that though the phonological errors in the twins are similar, they are not identical.

Key words: monozygotic twins, phonological errors, idioglossia

Interest in Speech and Language of Twins

Speech and language of twins have attracted the interest of innumerable researchers. According to reports, twin children have higher rates of language delay when compared to single-born children. There is a greater risk in twins than singletons that language development may at some stage deviate from the norms expected in singletons (Mittler, 1970). Sometimes the difference may be a direct result of twin ship but indicate neither a delay nor a disorder.

Speech and Language Characteristics of Twins

Twins have been reported to have delays in speech onset, and or slow and atypical development compared to that of singletons for semantics, syntax and phonology. Twin language children combine their own personal vocabulary with normal use of language.

The language consists of onomatopoeic expressions and some invented words. These words may be hardly recognizable and the language may turn out to be completely unintelligible to speakers of the model languages. They lack morphology, and the word order is based on pragmatic principles such as the use of content words which convey the meaning of what they want to express. It is also reported that they exhibit short mean length of utterances (Mc Evoy and Dodd, 1992).

Hay, Prior, Collett and Williams (1987) studied speech and language development in preschool twins. Language, articulation and reading problems were well documented in the young twins. The twin boys were found to be behind their age matched singletons and the twin girls, on expressive language, verbal comprehension and symbolic play.

Day (1932) and Davis (1937) reported measures of language complexity (such as sentence length, number of different grammatical categories in a sentence) to be two years behind in twins compared to singletons by the age of five. Lytton (1980) and Conway, Lytton, and Pysh (1980) like in the earlier studies reported that twins use shorter sentences, they have less speech overall, less speech directed towards the mother, and a slight difference in vocabulary.

Some Features

Studies indicate that multiple birth children are prone to phonological disorder and consequently their speech is often unintelligible. McEvoy and Dodd (1992) reported higher incidence of atypical phonological errors in twin children in their study.

The children typically use a smaller number of different speech sounds than are used in the adult language. The structure of words may be simplified and there are systematic substitutions of one sound for another. Twins tend to talk faster and may abbreviate their words or leave out consonants as they produce words, perhaps in a competitive attempt to talk over their co-twin and grab their parents' attention first.

Keenan and Klein's (1975) finding suggests that multiple birth children begin to interact vocally with their sibling earlier than singletons. This acquisition of imitative patterns of interactive vocal play pre verbally may affect their later acquisition of word phonology. They may continue to imitate each other's phonological forms for words and consequently mentally represent their twin's pronunciations of particular words. This might hinder the acquisition of knowledge about the phonological rules that govern their native language and lead to some multiple birth children showing atypical patterns of speech errors.

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