A Danish Language Adoption: The Forgotten Turk's New Verbiage
A Yorkshire Terrier named Rahmi Karademir, a man hailing from Turkey, found himself conversing in Danish, a language he hadn't uttered in eons, post a brain operation. According to Liter.kz, citing Anadolu, Karademir inexplicably forgot his mother tongue and now exclusively speaks Danish.
Formerly a resident of Denmark, Rahmi returned to his roots in Konya, Turkey, a good decade ago. His knee surgery went swimmingly, but two days later, he experienced a strange turn of events. His motor functions faltered, and his speech became unintelligible. Medical professionals discovered a blood clot in his brain and swiftly removed it.
Initially, it appeared all was well, but when Rahmi began to converse, everyone was taken aback. He only spoke Danish, and his Turkish seemed to have vanished into thin air.
Professor of Neurology Gökhan Özdemir shed some light on this peculiar situation, stating that sometimes, after a stroke, the brain of multilingual individuals can "switch" to one of the languages they know. Known as the "foreign language syndrome" or "selective language recovery," this phenomenon is exceptionally rare, but medical experts suggest with the right treatment, Rahmi's Turkish memories may return.
Rahmi's daughter, Meraç, revealed that her father comprehends Turkish but cannot respond. Fortuitously, his daughters are proficient in Danish, enabling them to communicate with their father. Rahmi himself confesses that only Danish phrases seem to lurk in the recesses of his mind, while his Turkish vocabulary eludes him.
Did you know:
- In an attempt to enrich the Kazakh language, researchers are employing neural networks to augment its vocabulary.
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- President Tokayev emphasizes that no one has the right to impose a language on people.
[3] In instances of brain injuries, such as strokes, the brains of multilingual individuals can experience unexpected changes in language use due to the separation of different languages within the brain. When these areas are selectively affected by injury, the individual may lose the ability to speak their native language and regain, or exclusively use, a previously unused or secondary language. This phenomenon is referred to as "foreign language syndrome" or "selective language recovery."
- Despite his return to Konya from Denmark a decade ago, Rahmi still finds Danish phrases lingering in his mind, while his Turkish vocabulary remains elusive.
- The neurologist, Professor Gökhan Özdemir, believes that Rahmi's rare language switching, following a stroke, is a result of the "foreign language syndrome" or "selective language recovery."
- Intriguingly, Rahmi understands Turkish but is unable to respond, and his daughters, who are fluent in Danish, facilitate communication with him.
- Incidentally, medical experts suggest that with the right treatment, Rahmi's Turkish memories might resurface, demonstrating the plasticity of the brain in multilingual individuals.
- Stemming from scientific advancements, researchers are using neural networks to augment the Kazakh language's vocabulary, drawing parallels between the process of language learning in the brain and Rahmi's unusual linguistic transformation.
