<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="" itemprop="headline">Bowe Bergdahl: Could he have lost English skills?</h1><div class="" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/staff/965/kim-painter"><img class="" src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/dd8b1baf67130a1edc52e1868cb7f1ece5f42a54/r=26&c=26x26/local/-/media/USATODAY/staff/images/v2/Painter_Kim.png" height="26" width="26"><span itemprop="name" class="">
Kim Painter, Special for USA TODAY
</span></a><span class="">8:29 p.m. EDT June 4, 2014</span></div><div id="module-position-NQBCV9WX60w" class=""><div class=""><div class=""><img class="" itemprop="url" src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/6b5c8643ca0efa91fced997517f081180be17260/c=353-0-2442-1562&r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2014/06/04//1401909246000-AFP-530372343-64709772.JPG" alt="AFP_530372343_64709772"><span class=""></span></div>
<p class=""><span class=""><span class="">(Photo: AL-EMARA via AFP/Getty Images)</span></span></p></div></div><div id="module-position-NQBCV9WrCu8" class=""><div class=""><span class=""><span class="">
689
</span><span class="">CONNECT</span></span><a class="" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http://usat.ly/1mTCluC&text=Bowe%20Bergdahl:%20Could%20he%20have%20lost%20English%20skills?&via=usatoday" target="_blank"><span class="">
68
</span><span class="">TWEET</span></a><a class="" href="http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?url=http://usat.ly/1mTCluC&mini=true" target="_blank"><span class="">
1
</span><span class="">LINKEDIN</span></a><span class=""><span class="">
79
</span><span class="">COMMENT</span></span><span class=""><span class=""></span><span class="">EMAIL</span></span><span class=""><span class=""></span><span class="">MORE</span></span></div></div><p>The release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl from Taliban captors this week has <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/06/04/five-questions-bowe-bergdahl/9953551/" title="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/06/04/five-questions-bowe-bergdahl/9953551/">raised many questions</a>.</p>
<p>One
of interest to students of language and psychology: Is it possible that
the young man from Idaho lost much of his ability to speak and
understand English during his five years as a prisoner in Afghanistan
and Pakistan?</p><p>Bergdahl's father, Robert, suggested that during an
initial video message to his son this week, in which he spoke partly in
Pashto, the language of the captors. A Defense Department official <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/01/world/asia/afghanistan-bergdahl-release/" title="http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/01/world/asia/afghanistan-bergdahl-release/">confirmed to CNN</a> that Bergdahl was struggling with English.</p>
<p>Though
it's not uncommon for people immersed in a new language for months or
years to suffer some "language attrition" in their native tongues, it
would be unusual for an adult to lose a first language entirely or for
normal skills not to return quickly, experts say.</p><p><b>MORE: </b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/06/04/five-questions-bowe-bergdahl/9953551/" title="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/06/04/five-questions-bowe-bergdahl/9953551/">Five questions surrounding Bowe Bergdahl</a></p>
<p>"Once
a first language becomes established, it's not easily shaken," says
Sandra Disner, a linguistics professor at the University of Southern
California.</p><p>Even for long-held prisoners of war, language loss is
rare, says Charles Marmar, chairman of psychiatry at the New York
University Langone Medical Center and director of the NYU Cohen Veterans
Center.</p><p>"Most people, even under conditions of brutal captivity,
maintain their language," if only in their private thoughts and dreams,
Marmar says. "It's a way of defining themselves and maintaining
continuity with their previous life."</p><p>Special circumstances,
including extreme isolation and trauma, might produce more profound
language losses in some susceptible individuals.</p><div id="module-position-NQBCV9WhVNQ" class=""><div class="" itemprop="video" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/VideoObject"><div class="" style="width:540px;height:304px">
<img class="" src="http://videos.usatoday.net/Brightcove2/29906170001/2014/06/29906170001_3605438844001_thumb-5bbba3f9d6f71f15560f6a7067006f81.jpg" alt="" height="304" width="540"></div><div class="" style="width:540px"><p class="" itemprop="description">
The Taliban have released a video showing the handover of American soldier Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl in Afghanistan. (June 4)
<span class="">AP</span></p></div></div></div><p>Marmar says
he can't diagnose Bergdahl from afar with "Stockholm syndrome," but a
"minority of people held under conditions of continuous threat … will
strongly over-identify with their captors," adopting their language,
clothing and mannerisms. "It's a way to be part of group that's in
power. You feel safer."</p><p>Another possibility: Bergdahl is out of
practice with any language. Roy Hallums, a private contractor held by
Iraqi insurgents for 10 months, told CNN he was forced to stay silent in
captivity. It took him a while to start talking at all, he said. "It's
like your vocal cords are like your muscles in your arms," he said. "If
they don't get any use, they get out of shape."</p><p>That doesn't
explain why Bergdahl might have trouble understanding English, as his
father suggested. Loss of understanding is much less likely than some
loss of speaking ability, says Merel Keijzer, a Dutch expert on
bilingualism who is a visiting scholar at Pennsylvania State University.</p><p>Studies
"have been done in much less extreme situations," she says, "but in
cases where comprehension is affected, it's very subtle."</p><p>If
Bergdahl did lose English skills, "my guess is that within hours to days
of being immersed in English-language culture, he will recover them,"
Marmar says.</p><p>That's what language experts see in people who return
from happier language-immersion experiences, such as study-abroad
programs, Disner says: "The good news is that after reasonably short
exposure to their friends, their families and their music, English comes
back like gangbusters."</p>fwd from Courierpostonline.org<br clear="all"><div><br>-- <br>=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>
Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br>
<a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------
</div></div>