Foreign Language Syndrome

To the untrained ear, those with the syndrome sound as though they speak their native languages with a foreign accent; for example, an American native speaker of English might sound as though they spoke with a south-eastern English accent, or a native British speaker might speak with a New York American accent. However, researchers at Oxford University have found that certain, specific parts of the brain were injured in some foreign-accent syndrome cases, indicating that certain parts of the brain control various linguistic functions, and damage could result in altered pitch or mispronounced syllables, causing speech patterns to be distorted in a non-specific manner. More recently, there is mounting evidence that the cerebellum, which controls motor function, may be crucially involved in some cases of foreign accent syndrome, reinforcing the notion that speech pattern alteration is mechanical, and thus non-specific. Thus, the perception of a foreign accent is likely a case of pareidolia on the part of the listener.

For example, damage to the brain might result in difficulty pronouncing the letter 'r' at the end of words, forcing a rhotic speaker to use a non-rhotic accent, even if they have never spoken with one. In the U.S., non-rhoticity is a particularly notable feature of a Boston accent, thus the person might seem to speak with a Boston accent to the casual listener. However, many of the other features of a Boston accent may be wholly missing.

Some have suggested that in order to maintain a sense of normality and flow, someone with the syndrome then augments the accent effect by imitating the rest of the accent. Depending on how important a certain phoneme is to a person's original accent, they might find speaking in a different accent to be much easier and their usual accent very difficult to consistently pronounce after some motor skills have been lost.

The condition was first described in 1907 by the French neurologist Pierre Marie. and another early case was reported in a Czech study in 1919. Other well-known cases of the syndrome have included one that occurred in Norway in 1941 after a young woman, Astrid L., suffered a head injury from shrapnel during an air-raid. After apparently recovering from the injury she was left with what sounded like a strong German accent and was shunned by her fellow Norwegians. Another well-known case is that of Judi Roberts, also known as Tiffany Noel, who was born and raised in Indiana, USA. In 1999, at the age of 57, Roberts suffered a stroke and after recovering her voice spoke with what resembled an English accent, though she never had been to Britain.

In January 2006, an Australian man suffered a stroke as a result of valium abuse while on holiday in Thailand. When he awoke his friends noticed he spoke with a mixture of Irish and American accents, sometimes swapping between the two mid sentence. This was the first recorded example of dual foreign accent syndrome.

A further case of foreign accent syndrome occurred to Linda Walker, a 60-year-old woman from the Newcastle area of UK. Again following a stroke her normal Geordie accent was transformed and has been variously described as resembling a Jamaican, as well as a French Canadian, Italian and a Slovak accent. She was interviewed by BBC News 24 and appeared on the Richard & Judy show in the UK in July 2006 to speak of her ordeal.

In the July 2008 issue of the Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences, researchers from McMaster University reported a study where a woman from Windsor, Ontario, after suffering a stroke, began speaking with what some people described as a Newfoundland accent.

In 2008, Cindy Lou Romberg of Port Angeles, Washington, who had suffered a brain injury 17 years earlier, developed foreign accent syndrome after a neck adjustment from her chiropractor. A visit to the hospital ruled out a stroke. Afterwards she spoke with a Russian accent and even appeared to make the grammatical mistakes of a Russian speaking English, as if English was not her native language. She was featured on the Discovery Health Channel's Mystery ER show on the 26 October 2008 and was also featured on the October 31 edition of Inside Edition.

In 2010, the first case associated with severe migraine was recorded. Sarah Colwill, a frequent migraine sufferer from Devon in the UK, experienced a headache so extreme that she had to call an ambulance. When waking in the hospital later her accent sounded Chinese.

Another incident involving migraine was recorded in September 2010, again with a British woman. After lying down for a while because of her migraine, 49 year old Kay Russell, from Gloucestershire UK, woke up with a French accent.