Speaking in tongues

{{Short description|Phenomenon in which people speak words apparently in languages unknown to them}}
{{Other uses|Speaking in Tongues (disambiguation)}}
{{Redirect|Glossolalia|the Steve Walsh album|Glossolalia (album)}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
[[File:Pentecost icon.jpg|thumb|alt=The Theotokos and the Twelve Apostles – Fifty Days after the Resurrection of Christ, awaiting the descent of the Holy Spirit|An icon depicting the [[Theotokos]] with the [[Twelve Apostles|apostles]] filled with the [[Holy Spirit]], indicated by "cloven tongues like as of fire" ({{Bibleverse|Acts|2:3|KJV}}) above their heads]]

'''Speaking in tongues''', also known as '''glossolalia''', is an activity or practice in which people utter words or speech-like sounds, often thought by believers to be languages unknown to the speaker. One definition used by linguists is the fluid vocalizing of speech-like syllables that lack any readily comprehended meaning. In some cases, as part of religious practice, some believe it to be a [[divine language]] unknown to the speaker.<ref name=DictPsych>{{cite dictionary |entry=Glossolalian |dictionary=A Dictionary of Psychology |editor-first=Andrew M. |editor-last=Colman |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/pub/views/home.html |access-date=2011-08-05}}</ref> Glossolalia is practiced in [[Pentecostal]] and [[charismatic Christianity]],<ref name="LumHarvey2018">{{cite book |last1=Lum |first1=Kathryn Gin |last2=Harvey |first2=Paul |title=The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Race in American History|date=2018|publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |isbn=978-0190856892 |page=801 |quote= ... would prove influential on the development of black Pentecostalism in the early twentieth century, as glossolalia, or speaking in tongues, would be understood as a third work of grace following Holiness and receipt of the Holy Spirit.}}</ref><ref name="FahlbuschBromiley1999">{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of Christianity|year=1999|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|language=en|isbn=978-9004116955|page=415|quote=While in Houston, Texas, where he had moved his headquarters, Parham came into contact with William Seymour (1870–1922), an African-American Baptist-Holiness preacher. Seymour took from Parham the teaching that the baptism of the Holy Spirit was not the blessing of sanctification but rather a third work of grace that was accompanied by the experience of tongues}}</ref> as well as in other religions.<ref name="Rose1997">{{cite book|last=Rose|first=Seraphim|title=Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future|date=1997|publisher=St Herman Press|language=en|isbn=188790400X|page=137|quote=There is scarcely to be found an example of "speaking in tongues" in any even nominally Christian context for over 1,600 years after the time of Paul...and yet this "gift" is possessed by numerous shamans and witch doctors of primitive religions, as well as by modern spritistics mediums and the demonically possessed.}}</ref><ref name="Shifting Paradigms and Mediating Me">{{cite journal|title=Shifting Paradigms and Mediating Media: Redefining a New Religion as "Rational" in Contemporary Society|journal=[[Nova Religio]]|volume=10|issue=3|pages=54–72|doi=10.1525/nr.2007.10.3.54|year=2007|last1=Whelan|first1=Christal}}</ref>

Sometimes a distinction is made between "glossolalia" and "xenolalia" or "[[xenoglossy]]", which specifically relates to the belief that the language being spoken is a [[natural language]] previously unknown to the speaker.<ref>Cheryl Bridges Johns and Frank Macchia, "Glossolalia", ''The Encyclopedia of Christianity'' (Grand Rapids, MI; Leiden, Netherlands: Wm. B. Eerdmans; Brill, 1999–2003), 413.</ref>

==Etymology==
''Glossolalia'' is a borrowing of the {{lang|grc|γλωσσολαλία}} ({{transliteration|grc|glossolalía}}), which is a compound of the {{lang|grc|γλῶσσα}} ({{transliteration|grc|glossa}}) {{gloss|tongue, language}}<ref>{{cite dictionary |entry-url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dglw%3Dssa |entry=γλῶσσα  |first1=Henry George |last1=Liddell |first2=Robert |last2=Scott |title=A Greek-English Lexicon |editor-first1=Henry Stuart |editor-last1=Jones |editor-first2=Roderick |editor-last2=McKenzie |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1940}}</ref> and {{lang|grc|λαλέω}} ({{transliteration|grc|laleō}}) {{gloss|to speak, talk, chat, prattle, make a sound}}.<ref>{{cite dictionary |entry-url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dlale%2Fw |entry=λαλέω |first1=Henry George |last1=Liddell |first2=Robert |last2=Scott |title=A Greek-English Lexicon |editor-first1=Henry Stuart |editor-last1=Jones |editor-first2=Roderick |editor-last2=McKenzie |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1940}}</ref> The Greek expression (in various forms) appears in the New Testament in the books of [[Acts of the Apostles|Acts]] and [[First Corinthians]]. In Acts 2, the followers of Christ receive the [[Holy Spirit]] and speak in the languages of at least fifteen countries or ethnic groups.

The exact phrase ''speaking in tongues'' has been used at least since the translation of the New Testament into [[Middle English]] in the [[Wycliffe Bible]] in the 14th century.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Mark|16:17|wyc}} </ref> [[Frederic Farrar]] first used the word ''glossolalia'' in 1879.<ref>{{cite dictionary |dictionary=[[Oxford English Dictionary]] |edition=2nd |year=1989 |entry=glossolalia}}</ref>

==Linguistics==
In 1972, [[William J. Samarin]], a linguist from the [[University of Toronto]], published a thorough assessment of Pentecostal glossolalia that became a classic work on its linguistic characteristics.<ref>{{Cite book|first=William J. |last=Samarin |title=Tongues of Men and Angels: The Religious Language of Pentecostalism |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York |year=1972 |oclc=308527}}{{Page needed|date=August 2010}}</ref> His assessment was based on a large sample of glossolalia recorded in public and private Christian meetings in Italy, the Netherlands, Jamaica, Canada, and the United States over the course of five years; his wide range of subjects included the Puerto Ricans of the Bronx, the [[Snake handling in Christianity|snake handlers]] of the Appalachians and the [[spiritual Christians]] from Russia in Los Angeles (''Pryguny, Dukh-i-zhizniki'').

Samarin found that glossolalic speech does resemble human language in some respects. The speaker uses accent, rhythm, intonation and pauses to break up the speech into distinct units. Each unit is itself made up of syllables, the syllables being formed from consonants and vowels found in a language known to the speaker:

<blockquote>It is verbal behaviour that consists of using a certain number of consonants and vowels ... in a limited number of syllables that in turn are organized into larger units that are taken apart and rearranged pseudogrammatically ... with variations in pitch, volume, speed and intensity.<ref>{{Cite book|first=William J. |last=Samarin |title=Tongues of Men and Angels: The Religious Language of Pentecostalism |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York |year=1972 |page=120 |oclc=308527}}</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>[Glossolalia] consists of strings of syllables, made up of sounds taken from all those that the speaker knows, put together more or less haphazardly but emerging nevertheless as word-like and sentence-like units because of realistic, language-like rhythm and melody.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Samarin |first=William J. |title=Sociolinguistic vs. Neurophysiological Explanations for Glossolalia: Comment on Goodman's Paper |jstor=1384556 |journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion |volume=11 |issue=3 |year=1972 |pages=293–296 |doi=10.2307/1384556}}</ref></blockquote>

That the sounds are taken from the set of sounds already known to the speaker is confirmed by others. [[Felicitas Goodman]], a psychological anthropologist and linguist, also found that the speech of glossolalists reflected the patterns of speech of the speaker's native language.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Goodman |first=Felicitas D. |title=Phonetic Analysis of Glossolalia in Four Cultural Settings |jstor=1384336 |journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion |volume=8 |issue=2 |year=1969 |pages=227–35 |doi=10.2307/1384336}}</ref> These findings were confirmed by Kavan (2004).<ref>New Zealand Linguistic Society: Heather Kavan [[Massey University]]: [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242187721_WE_DON'T_KNOW_WHAT_WE'RE_SAYING_BUT_IT'S_PROFOUND_THE_LANGUAGE_AND_CONTEXTS_OF_GLOSSOLALIA Heather Kavan "We don't know what we're saying, but it's profound"]</ref>

Samarin found that the resemblance to human language was merely on the surface and so concluded that glossolalia is "only a facade of language".<ref name=Samarin128>{{Cite book|first=William J. |last=Samarin |title=Tongues of Men and Angels: The Religious Language of Pentecostalism |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York |year=1972 |page=128 |oclc=308527}}</ref> He reached this conclusion because the syllable string did not form words, the stream of speech was not internally organized, and – most importantly of all – there was no systematic relationship between units of speech and concepts. Humans use language to communicate but glossolalia does not. Therefore, he concluded that glossolalia is not "a specimen of human language because it is neither internally organized nor systematically related to the world man perceives".<ref name="Samarin128" /> On the basis of his linguistic analysis, Samarin defined Pentecostal glossolalia as "meaningless but phonologically structured human [[utterance]], believed by the speaker to be a real language but bearing no systematic resemblance to any natural language, living or dead".<ref>{{Cite book|first=William J. |last=Samarin |title=Tongues of Men and Angels: The Religious Language of Pentecostalism |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York |year=1972 |page=2 |oclc=308527}}</ref>

Felicitas Goodman studied a number of Pentecostal communities in the United States, the Caribbean, and Mexico; these included English-, Spanish- and Mayan-speaking groups. She compared what she found with recordings of non-Christian rituals from Africa, Borneo, Indonesia and Japan. She took into account both the segmental structure (such as sounds, syllables, phrases) and the supra-segmental elements (rhythm, accent, intonation) and concluded that there was no distinction between what was practised by the Pentecostal Protestants and the followers of other religions.<ref name="Goodman 1972">{{Cite book |first=Felicitas D. |last=Goodman |author-link=Felicitas Goodman |title=Speaking in Tongues: A Cross-Cultural Study in Glossolalia |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |location=Chicago |year=1972 |isbn=978-0226303246 |oclc=393056 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/speakingintongue00feli }}{{Page needed|date=August 2010}}</ref>

==History==

===Classical antiquity===
It was a commonplace idea within the [[Ancient]] world that divine beings spoke languages different from human languages, and historians of religion have identified references to [[esoteric]] speech in Greco-Roman literature that resemble glossolalia, sometimes explained as angelic or [[divine language]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Petruzzello |first1=Melissa |title=Glossolalia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/glossolalia |website=Encyclopedia Britannice |publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=16 June 2023}}</ref> An example is the account in the [[Testament of Job]], a non-canonical elaboration of the [[Book of Job]], where the daughters of [[Job (biblical figure)|Job]] are described as being given sashes enabling them to speak and sing in angelic languages.{{Sfn|Martin|1995|pp=88–89}}

According to Dale B. Martin, glossolalia was accorded high status in the ancient world due to its association with the divine. [[Alexander of Abonoteichus]] may have exhibited glossolalia during his episodes of prophetic ecstasy.{{Sfn|Martin|1995|p=90}} [[Neoplatonist]] philosopher [[Iamblichus]] linked glossolalia to [[prophecy]], writing that prophecy was divine [[spirit possession]] that "emits words which are not understood by those that utter them; for they pronounce them, as it is said, with an insane mouth (''mainomenό stomati'') and are wholly subservient, and entirely yield themselves to the energy of the predominating God".{{Sfn|Martin|1995|p=91}}

In his writings on [[early Christianity]], the Greek philosopher [[Celsus]] includes an account of Christian glossolalia. Celsus describes prophecies made by several Christians in Palestine and Phoenicia of which he writes, "Having brandished these threats they then go on to add incomprehensible, incoherent, and utterly obscure utterances, the meaning of which no intelligent person could discover: for they are meaningless and nonsensical, and give a chance for any fool or sorcerer to take the words in whatever sense he likes".{{Sfn|Martin|1995|p=90}}

References to speaking in tongues by the [[Church fathers]] are rare. Except for Irenaeus' 2nd-century reference to many in the church speaking all kinds of languages "through the Spirit", and Tertullian's reference in 207 AD to the spiritual gift of interpretation of tongues being encountered in his day, there are no other known first-hand accounts of glossolalia, and very few second-hand accounts among their writings.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Benjamin B. |last=Warfield |author-link=Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield |year=1918 |title=Counterfeit Miracles |location=New York |publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons]] |oclc=3977281 |page=[https://archive.org/details/counterfeitmira02warfgoog/page/n21 10] |quote=The writings of the so-called Apostolic Fathers contain no clear and certain allusions to miracle working or to the exercise of the charismatic gifts, contemporaneously with themselves.|isbn=978-0851511665}}</ref>

===1100 to 1900===
* 12th century – [[Bernard of Clairvaux]] explained that speaking tongues be no longer present because there be greater miracles – the transformed lives of believers.<ref>[http://www.abbaye-saint-benoit.ch/saints/bernard/tome03/homtemps/paques/paques007.htm "''Premier Serrmon Pour Le Jour de L'Ascension. Sur l'Evangile du jour.''"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207004808/http://www.abbaye-saint-benoit.ch/saints/bernard/tome03/homtemps/paques/paques007.htm |date=7 February 2020 }} "''3. Il y des signes plus certains et des miracles plus salutaires que ceux-là, ce sont les mérites. Et je ne crois pas qu'il soit difficile de savoir en quel sens on doit entendre les miracles dont il est parlé en cet endroit, pour qu'ils soient des signes certains de foi, et par conséquent de salut. En effet, la première oeuvre de la foi, opérant par la charité, c'est la componction de l'âme, car elle chasse évidemment les démons, en déracinant les péchés de notre coeur. Quant aux langues nouvelles que doivent parler les hommes, qui croient en Jésus-Christ, cela a lieu, lorsque le langage du vieil homme cesse de se trouver sur nos lèvres, et que nous ne parlons plus la langue antique de nos premiers parents, qui cherchaient dans des paroles pleines de malice à s'excuser de leurs péchés''".</ref>
* 12th century – [[Hildegard of Bingen]] is said to have possessed the gift of visions and prophecy and to have been able to speak and write in Latin without having learned the language.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=L. Carlyle |first1=May |title=A Survey of Glossolalia and Related Phenomena in NonChristian Religions |journal=American Anthropologist |date=February 1956 |volume=58 |issue=1 |page=75 |url=https://sciencedocbox.com/Paranormal_Phenomena/84364754-E-words-has-long-been-of-interest-to-students-of-religion-the-books-of-cutten.html |doi=10.1525/aa.1956.58.1.02a00060 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
* 1265 – [[Thomas Aquinas]] wrote about the gift of tongues in the New Testament, which he understood to be an ability to speak every language, given for the purposes of missionary work. He explained that Christ did not have this gift because his mission was to the Jews, "nor does each one of the faithful now speak save in one tongue"; for "no one speaks in the tongues of all nations, because the Church herself already speaks the languages of all nations".<ref>[[Thomas Aquinas]], ''[[Summa Theologica]]'', Question 176.</ref>
* 15th century – The [[Moravian Church|Moravians]] are referred to by detractors as having spoken in tongues. John Roche, a contemporary critic, claimed that the Moravians "commonly broke into some disconnected Jargon, which they often passed upon the vulgar, 'as the exuberant and resistless Evacuations of the Spirit'".<ref>{{Cite book|first=Stanley M. |last=Burgess |chapter=Medieval and Modern Western Churches |editor1=Gary B. McGee |title=Initial evidence: historical and biblical perspectives on the Pentecostal doctrine of spirit baptism |publisher=Hendrickson Publishers |location=[[Peabody, Massachusetts]] |year=1991 |page=32 |isbn=978-0943575414 |oclc=24380326}}</ref>
* 17th century – The French Prophets: The [[Camisards]] also spoke sometimes in languages that were unknown: "Several persons of both Sexes", James Du Bois of Montpellier recalled, "I have heard in their Extasies pronounce certain words, which seem'd to the Standers-by, to be some Foreign Language". These utterances were sometimes accompanied by the gift of interpretation exercised, in Du Bois' experience, by the same person who had spoken in tongues.<ref>{{Cite book|first=John |last=Lacy |year=1707 |title=A Cry from the Desert |oclc=81008302 |page=32}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |first=Michael Pollock |last=Hamilton |title=The charismatic movement |publisher=[[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company]] |location=[[Grand Rapids, Michigan]] |year=1975 |page=[https://archive.org/details/charismaticmovem00hami/page/75 75] |isbn=978-0802834539 |oclc=1008209 |url=https://archive.org/details/charismaticmovem00hami/page/75 }}</ref>
* 17th century – Early [[Quakers]], such as [[Edward Burrough]], make mention of tongues-speaking in their meetings: "We spoke with new tongues, as the Lord gave us utterance, and His Spirit led us".<ref>[[Edward Burrough|Burrough, Edward]] (1831) [1659]. "Epistle to the Reader" in [[George Fox|Fox, George]]. ''The great mystery of the great whore unfolded; and Antichrist's kingdom revealed unto destruction''. ''The Works of George Fox''. '''3'''. p.&nbsp;[https://archive.org/details/worksgeorgefox09foxgoog/page/n17 13]. {{OCLC|12877488}}.</ref>
* 1817 – In Germany, [[Gustav von Below]], an aristocratic officer of the Prussian Guard, and his brothers, founded a religious movement based on their estates in Pomerania, which may have included speaking in tongues.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hogue |first1=Richard |title=Tongues: A Theological History of Christian Glossolalia |date=2010 |publisher=Tate Publishing |page=211}}</ref>
* 19th century – [[Edward Irving]] and the [[Catholic Apostolic Church]]. Edward Irving, a minister in the Church of Scotland, writes of a woman who would "speak at great length, and with superhuman strength, in an unknown tongue, to the great astonishment of all who heard, and to her own great edification and enjoyment in God".<ref>{{Cite journal|first=Edward |last=Irving |author-link=Edward Irving |date=January 1832 |title=Facts Connected With Recent Manifestations of Spiritual Gifts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mFPPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA754 |journal=[[Fraser's Magazine]] |volume=4 |issue=24 |pages=754–761 |access-date=9 June 2009}}</ref> Irving further stated that "tongues are a great instrument for personal edification, however mysterious it may seem to us".<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Carlyle|editor1-first=Gavin|title=The Collected Writings of Edward Irving|date=1865|publisher=Alexander Strahan|page=548|edition=Volume 5|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HS8aAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA548|access-date=12 January 2017|chapter=On the Gifts of the Holy Ghost}}</ref>
* 19th century – The history of the [[Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)|Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church), contains extensive references to the practice of speaking in tongues by [[Brigham Young]], [[Joseph Smith]] and many others.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.frontiernet.net:80/~bcmmin/tongue1.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000817001900/http://www.frontiernet.net/~bcmmin/tongue1.htm |archive-date=17 August 2000 |website=www.frontiernet.net |title=Speaking in Tongues and the Mormon Church |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081017181936/http://www.mormonwiki.com/Speaking_in_Tongues |archive-date=17 October 2008 |url=http://www.mormonwiki.com:80/Speaking_in_Tongues |title=Speaking in Tongues |format=[[MediaWiki]] |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Sidney Rigdon]] had disagreements with [[Alexander Campbell (clergyman)|Alexander Campbell]] regarding speaking in tongues, and later joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Speaking in tongues was recorded in contemporary sources, both hostile and sympathetic to Mormonism, by at least 1830.<ref name="Copeland">{{cite journal |last1 = Copeland |first1 = Lee |title = Speaking in Tongues in the Restoration Churches |journal = Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought |volume = 24 |issue = 1 |url = https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V24N01_15.pdf }}</ref> The practice was soon widespread amongst Mormons, with many rank and file church members believing they were speaking the [[Adamic language|language of Adam]]; some of the hostility towards Mormons stemmed from those of other faiths regarding speaking in tongues unfavorably, especially when practiced by children.<ref name="Copeland" /> At the 1836 dedication of the [[Kirtland Temple]] the dedicatory prayer asked that God grant them the gift of tongues and at the end of the service [[Brigham Young]] spoke in tongues, another elder interpreted it and then gave his own exhortation in tongues. Many other worship experiences in the Kirtland Temple prior to and after the dedication included references to people speaking and interpreting tongues. In describing the beliefs of the church in the [[Wentworth letter]] (1842), Joseph Smith identified a belief of the "gift of tongues" and "interpretation of tongues". The practice of glossolalia by the Latter-day Saints was widespread but after an initial burst of enthusiastic growth circa 1830–34, seems to have been somewhat more restrained than in many other contemporary religious movements.<ref name="Copeland" /> Young, Smith, and numerous other early leaders frequently cautioned against the public exercise of glossolalia unless there be someone who could exercise the corresponding spiritual gift of interpretation of tongues, so that listeners could be edified by what had been said. Although the [[Latter-day Saint]]s believe that speaking in tongues and the interpretation of tongues is alive and well in the Church, modern Mormons are much more likely to point to the way in which LDS missionaries are trained and learn foreign languages quickly, and are able to communicate rapidly on their missions, as evidence of the manifestation of this gift. This interpretation stems from a 1900 General Conference sermon by [[Joseph F. Smith]] which discouraged glossolalia; subsequent leaders echoed this recommendation for about a decade afterwards and subsequently the practice had largely died out amongst Mormons by the 1930s and '40s.<ref name="Copeland" />

===20th century===
{{Main|Azusa Street Revival}}
[[File:026 la times.gif|thumb|upright=1.25|Headline about the "Weird babel of tongues" and other behavior at Azusa Street, from a 1906 ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' newspaper]]
During the 20th century, glossolalia primarily became associated with Pentecostalism and the later [[charismatic movement]]. Preachers in the [[Holiness Movement]] preachers [[Charles Parham]] and [[William J. Seymour|William Seymour]] are credited as co-founders of the movement. Parham and Seymour taught that "baptism of the Holy Spirit was not the blessing of sanctification but rather a [[third work of grace]] that was accompanied by the experience of tongues".<ref name="FahlbuschBromiley1999" /> It was Parham who formulated the doctrine of "initial evidence". After studying the Bible, Parham came to the conclusion that speaking in tongues was the Bible evidence that one had received the [[baptism with the Holy Spirit]].

In 1900, Parham opened [[Bethel Bible College]] in [[Topeka, Kansas]], America, where he taught initial evidence, a Charismatic belief about how to initiate the practice. During a service on 1 January 1901, a student named [[Agnes Ozman]] asked for prayer and the [[laying on of hands]] to specifically ask God to fill her with the [[Holy Spirit]]. She became the first of many students to experience glossolalia, in [[Millennium#Counting years|the first hours of the 20th century]]. Parham followed within the next few days. Parham called his new movement the [[Charles Fox Parham|apostolic faith]]. In 1905, he moved to Houston and opened a [[Bible school]] there. One of his students was William Seymour, an African-American preacher. In 1906, Seymour traveled to [[Los Angeles]] where his preaching ignited the [[Azusa Street Revival]]. This revival is considered the birth of the global Pentecostal movement. According to the first issue of William Seymour's newsletter, ''The Apostolic Faith'', from 1906:

{{blockquote|A [[Mohammedan]], a Soudanese by birth, a man who is an interpreter and speaks sixteen languages, came into the meetings at Azusa Street and the Lord gave him messages which none but himself could understand. He identified, interpreted and wrote a number of the languages.<ref>Square brackets indicate faded parts that are no longer readable.</ref>}}

Parham and his early followers believed that speaking in tongues was xenoglossia, and some followers traveled to foreign countries and tried to use the gift to share the Gospel with non-English-speaking people. From the time of the Azusa Street revival and among early participants in the Pentecostal movement, there were many accounts of individuals hearing their own languages spoken 'in tongues'. The majority of Pentecostals and Charismatics consider speaking in tongues to primarily be divine, or the "language of angels", rather than human languages.<ref>D. Swincer, ''Tongues: Genuine Biblical Languages: A Careful Construct of the Nature, Purpose, and Operation of the Gift of Tongues for the Church'' (2016) pp. 88–90 {{ISBN?}}</ref> In the years following the Azusa Street revival Pentecostals who went to the mission field found that they were unable to speak in the language of the local inhabitants at will when they spoke in tongues in strange lands.<ref>Faupel, D. William. ''Glossolalia as Foreign Language: An Investigation of the Twentieth-Century Pentecostal Claim''. {{cite web |url=http://wesley.nnu.edu/wesleyan_theology/theojrnl/31-35/31-1-05.htm |title=31-1-05 |access-date=2005-04-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050429071428/http://wesley.nnu.edu/wesleyan_theology/theojrnl/31-35/31-1-05.htm |archive-date=29 April 2005}}</ref>

The revival at Azusa Street lasted until around 1915. From it grew many new Pentecostal churches as people visited the services in Los Angeles and took their newfound beliefs to communities around the United States and abroad. During the 20th century, glossolalia became an important part of the identity of these religious groups. During the 1960s, the [[charismatic movement]] within the [[Mainline Protestantism|mainline Protestant]] churches and among [[Catholic Charismatic Movement|charismatic Roman Catholics]] adopted some Pentecostal beliefs, and the practice of glossolalia spread to other Christian denominations. The discussion regarding tongues has permeated many branches of Protestantism, particularly since the widespread charismatic movement in the 1960s. Many books have been published either defending<ref>Example: Christenson, Laurence, ''Speaking in tongues: and its significance for the church'', Minneapolis, MN : Dimension Books, 1968.{{ISBN?}}{{page needed|date=June 2020}}</ref> or attacking<ref>Example: Gromacki, Robert Glenn, ''The Modern Tongues Movement'', Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1973, {{ISBN|0875523048}} (Originally published 1967){{page needed|date=June 2020}}</ref> the practice.

==Christianity==

===Theological explanations===
In [[Christianity]], a supernatural explanation for glossolalia is advocated by some and rejected by others. Proponents of each viewpoint use the biblical writings and historical arguments to support their positions.
* '''Glossolalists''' could, apart from those practicing glossolalia, also mean all those Christians who believe that the Pentecostal/charismatic glossolalia practiced today is the "speaking in tongues" described in the New Testament. They believe that it is a miraculous [[charism]] or [[spiritual gift]]. Glossolalists claim that these tongues can be both real, unlearned languages (i.e., [[xenoglossia]])<ref name=grudem1994p1070>{{Cite book|first=Wayne A. |last=Grudem |author-link=Wayne Grudem |title=Systematic theology: an introduction to biblical doctrine |publisher=[[Inter-Varsity Press]] |location=[[Leicester]] |year=1994 |page=1070 |isbn=978-0851106526 |oclc=29952151}}</ref><ref name=ag-baptism2000>{{cite web|author=General Presbytery of the Assemblies of God |date=11 August 2000 |title=The Baptism in the Holy Spirit: The Initial Experience and Continuing Evidences of the Spirit-Filled Life |url=http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/Position_Papers/pp_downloads/pp_4185_spirit-filled_life.pdf |publisher=[[General Council of the Assemblies of God of the United States]] |access-date=9 June 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217141421/http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/Position_Papers/pp_downloads/pp_4185_spirit-filled_life.pdf |archive-date=17 December 2008 }}</ref> as well as a "language of the spirit", a "heavenly language", or perhaps the [[Angelic tongues|language of angels]].<ref name=grudem1994p1072>{{Cite book|first=Wayne A. |last=Grudem |author-link=Wayne Grudem |title=Systematic theology: an introduction to biblical doctrine |publisher=[[Inter-Varsity Press]] |location=[[Leicester]] |year=1994 |page=1072 |isbn=978-0851106526 |oclc=29952151}}</ref>
* '''[[cessationism|Cessationists]]''' believe that all the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased to occur early in Christian history, and therefore that the speaking in tongues as practiced by Charismatic Christians is the learned utterance of non-linguistic syllables. According to this belief, it is neither xenoglossia nor miraculous, but rather taught behavior, possibly self-induced. These believe that what the New Testament described as "speaking in tongues" was xenoglossia, a miraculous spiritual gift through which the speaker could communicate in natural languages not previously studied.
*A third position claims that glossolalia does exist, but it is a form of [[prelest]], not the "speaking in tongues" described in the New Testament. It believes glossolalia is part of a mediumistic technique where practitioners are manifesting genuine spiritual power, but this power is not necessarily of the Holy Spirit.<ref name=Rose1997/>
* A fourth position conceivably exists, which believes the practice of "glossolalia" to be a folk practice and different from the legitimate New Testament spiritual gift of speaking/interpreting real languages. It is therefore not out of a belief that "miracles have ceased" (i.e., cessationism) that causes this group to discredit the supernatural origins of particular modern expressions of "glossolalia", but it is rather out of a belief that glossolalists have misunderstood Scripture and wrongly attributed to the Holy Spirit something that may be explained naturalistically.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/07/health/07brain.html|title=A Neuroscientific Look at Speaking in Tongues|first=Benedict|last=Carey |newspaper=The New York Times|date=7 November 2006}}</ref>

===Biblical practice===
There are five places in the [[New Testament]] where speaking in tongues is referred to explicitly:
* [[s: Bible (King James)/Mark#Chapter 16|Mark 16:17]] (though this is a [[Mark 16|disputed text]]), which records the instructions of [[Jesus Christ|Christ]] to the [[Apostles in the New Testament|apostles]], including his description that "they will speak with new tongues" as a sign that would follow "them that believe" in him.
* [[s: Bible (King James)/Acts#Chapter 2|Acts 2]], which describes an occurrence of speaking in tongues in [[Jerusalem]] at [[Pentecost]], though with various interpretations. Specifically, "every man ''heard them'' speak in his own language" and wondered "how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?"
* [[s: Bible (King James)/Acts#Chapter 10|Acts 10:46]], when the household of [[Cornelius the Centurion|Cornelius]] in [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]] spoke in tongues, and those present compared it to the speaking in tongues that occurred at [[Pentecost]].
* [[s:Bible (King James)/Acts#Chapter 19|Acts 19:6]], when a group of approximately a dozen men spoke in tongues in [[Ephesus]] as they received the Holy Spirit while the apostle Paul laid his hands upon them.
* [[s:Bible (King James)/1 Corinthians#Chapter 12|1 Cor 12]], [[s:Bible (King James)/1 Corinthians#Chapter 13|13]], [[s:Bible (King James)/1 Corinthians#Chapter 14|14]], where [[Apostle Paul|Paul]] discusses speaking in "various kinds of tongues" as part of his wider discussion of the [[gifts of the Spirit]]; his remarks shed some light on his own speaking in tongues as well as how the gift of speaking in tongues was to be used in the [[Mother Church|church]].

Other verses by inference may be considered to refer to "speaking in tongues", such as [[s:Bible (King James)/Isaiah#Chapter 28|Isaiah 28:11]], [[s:Bible (King James)/Romans#Chapter 8|Romans 8:26]] and [[s:Bible (King James)/Jude|Jude 20]].

The biblical account of [[Pentecost]] in the second chapter of the book of Acts describes the sound of a mighty rushing wind and "divided tongues like fire" coming to rest on the [[Apostles in the New Testament|apostles]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Geisler |first1=Norman L. |author1-link=Norman Geisler |title=Was it Only the Apostles Who Spoke in Tongues at Pentecost? |date=11 February 2022 |url=https://christianpublishinghouse.co/2022/02/11/was-it-only-the-apostles-who-spoke-in-tongues-at-pentecost/ |publisher=Christian Publishing House |access-date=5 July 2023}}</ref> The text further describes that "they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other languages". It goes on to say in verses 5–11 that when the Apostles spoke, each person in attendance "heard their own language being spoken". Therefore, the gift of speaking in tongues refers to the Apostles' speaking languages that the people listening heard as "them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God". Glossolalists and cessationists both recognize this as [[xenoglossia]], a miraculous ability that marked their [[Baptism of the Holy Spirit|baptism in the Holy Spirit]]. Something similar (although perhaps not xenoglossia) took place on at least two subsequent occasions, in Caesarea and Ephesus.

Glossolalists and cessationists generally agree that the primary purpose of the gift of speaking in tongues was to mark the [[Holy Spirit]] being poured out. At [[Pentecost]] the [[Apostle Peter]] declared that this gift, which was making some in the audience ridicule the disciples as drunks, be the fulfilment of the prophecy of [[Joel (prophet)|Joel]], which described that God would pour out his Spirit on all flesh ([[s:Bible (King James)/Acts#Chapter 2|Acts 2:17]]).<ref name=ag-baptism2000 />

Despite these commonalities, there are significant variations in interpretation.
* '''Universal'''. The traditional [[Pentecostal]] view is that every Christian should expect to be [[Baptism in the holy spirit|baptized in the Holy Spirit]], the distinctive mark of which is glossolalia.<ref name=ag-truths>{{cite web |title=Statement of Fundamental Truths |url=http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/Statement_of_Fundamental_Truths/sft.pdf |author=Assemblies of God |publisher=[[General Council of the Assemblies of God of the United States]] |year=1961 |access-date=9 June 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060619112828/http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/Statement_of_Fundamental_Truths/sft.pdf |archive-date=19 June 2006 |author-link=Assemblies of God}}</ref> While most Protestants agree that baptism in the Holy Spirit is integral to being a Christian, others<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.christians.eu/holy-spirit-baptism/|title=Baptism with the Holy Spirit|work=christians.eu|date=22 July 2015}}</ref> believe that it is not separable from [[Religious conversion|conversion]] and no longer marked by glossolalia. Pentecostals appeal to the declaration of the [[Apostle Peter]] at Pentecost, that "the gift of the Holy Spirit" was "for you and for your children and for all who are far off" ([[s:Bible (King James)/Acts#Chapter 2|Acts 2:38–39]]). Cessationists reply that the gift of speaking in tongues was never for all ([[s:Bible (King James)/1 Corinthians#Chapter 12|1 Cor 12:30]]). In response to those who say that the baptism in the Holy Spirit be not a separate experience from conversion, Pentecostals appeal to the question asked by the [[Apostle Paul]] to the Ephesian believers "Have ye received the Holy Ghost ''since'' ye believed?" ([[s:Bible (King James)/Acts#Chapter 19|Acts 19:2]]).
* '''One gift'''. Different aspects of speaking in tongues appear in Acts and 1 Corinthians, such that the [[Assemblies of God]] declare that the gift in Acts "is the same in essence as the gift of tongues" in 1 Corinthians "but different in purpose and use".<ref name=ag-truths/> They distinguish between (private) speech in tongues when receiving the gift of the Spirit, and (public) speech in tongues for the benefit of the church. Others assert that the gift in Acts was "not a different phenomenon" but the same gift being displayed under varying circumstances.<ref name=grudem1994p1073>{{Cite book|first=Wayne A. |last=Grudem |author-link=Wayne Grudem |title=Systematic theology: an introduction to biblical doctrine |publisher=[[Inter-Varsity Press]] |location=[[Leicester]] |year=1994 |page=1073 |isbn=978-0851106526 |oclc=29952151}}</ref> The same description{{snd}}"speaking in tongues"{{snd}}is used in both Acts and 1 Corinthians, and in both cases the speech is in an unlearned language.
* '''Direction'''. The New Testament describes tongues largely as speech addressed to God, but also as something that can potentially be interpreted into human language, thereby "edifying the hearers" ([[s:Bible (King James)/1 Corinthians#Chapter 14|1 Cor 14:5, 13]]). At Pentecost and Caesarea the speakers were praising God ([[s:Bible (King James)/Acts#Chapter 2|Acts 2:11]]; [[s:Bible (King James)/Acts#Chapter 10|10:46]]). Paul referred to praying, singing praise, and giving thanks in tongues ([[s:Bible (King James)/1 Corinthians#Chapter 14|1 Cor 14:14–17]]), as well as to the [[interpretation of tongues]] ([[s:Bible (King James)/1 Corinthians#Chapter 14|1 Cor 14:5]]), and instructed those speaking in tongues to pray for the ability to interpret their tongues so that others could understand them ([[s: Bible (King James)/1 Corinthians#Chapter 14|1 Cor 14:13]]). While some people limit speaking in tongues to speech addressed to God{{snd}}"prayer or praise",<ref name=grudem1994p1070/> others claim that speaking in tongues be the revelation from God to the church, and when interpreted into human language by those embued with the gift of interpretation of tongues for the benefit of others present, may be considered equivalent to prophecy.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Peter |last=Masters |author2=John C. Whitcomb |title=The Charismatic Phenomenon |publisher=Wakeman Trust |location=London |year=1988 |page=[https://archive.org/details/charismaticpheno0000mast/page/49 49] |isbn=978-1870855013 |oclc=20720229 |author2-link=John C. Whitcomb |url=https://archive.org/details/charismaticpheno0000mast/page/49 }}</ref>
* '''Music'''. Musical interludes of glossolalia are sometimes described as [[singing in the Spirit]]. Some hold that singing in the Spirit is identified with singing in tongues in 1 Corinthians 14:13–19,<ref>''Bible'' {{bibleverse|1|Corinthians|14:13–19|KJV}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|first=Donald A. |last=Johns |editor1=Stanley M. Burgess |editor2=Gary B. McGee |editor3=Patrick H. Alexander |title=''Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements'' |publisher=[[Zondervan]] |location=[[Grand Rapids, Michigan]] |year=1988 |page=788 |isbn=978-0310441007 |oclc=18496801|title-link=Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements}} Cited by {{cite web|first=Richard M. |last=Riss |url=http://www.pctii.org/arc/riss.html |title=Singing in the Spirit in the Holiness, Pentecostal, Latter Rain, and Charismatic Movements |date=28 July 1995 |access-date=9 June 2009}}</ref> which they hold to be "spiritual or spirited singing", as opposed to "communicative or impactive singing" which Paul refers to as "singing with the understanding".<ref>{{Cite book|first=Delton L. |last=Alford |editor1=Stanley M. Burgess |editor2=Gary B. McGee |editor3=Patrick H. Alexander |title=Dictionary of Pentecostal and charismatic movements |publisher=[[Zondervan]] |location=[[Grand Rapids, Michigan]] |year=1988 |page=690 |isbn=978-0310441007 |oclc=18496801}} Cited by {{cite web|first=Richard M. |last=Riss |url=http://www.pctii.org/arc/riss.html |title=Singing in the Spirit in the Holiness, Pentecostal, Latter Rain, and Charismatic Movements |date=28 July 1995 |access-date=9 June 2009}}</ref>
* '''Sign for unbelievers''' ([[s:Bible (King James)/1 Corinthians#Chapter 14|1 Cor 14:22]]). Some assume that tongues are "a sign for unbelievers that they might believe",<ref>{{cite web |title=Questions about Tongues |url=http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/baptmhs_faq_tongues.cfm |publisher=[[General Council of the Assemblies of God of the United States]] |year=2009 |access-date=10 June 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060613065932/http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/baptmhs_faq_tongues.cfm |archive-date=13 June 2006}}</ref> and so advocate it as a means of evangelism. Others point out that Paul quotes Isaiah to show that "when God speaks to people in language they cannot understand, it is quite evidently a sign of God's judgment"; so if unbelievers are baffled by a church service they cannot understand because tongues are spoken without being interpreted, that is a "sign of God's attitude", "a sign of judgment".<ref name=grudem1994p1075>{{Cite book|first=Wayne A. |last=Grudem |author-link=Wayne Grudem |title=Systematic theology: an introduction to biblical doctrine |publisher=[[Inter-Varsity Press]] |location=[[Leicester]] |year=1994 |page=1075 |isbn=978-0851106526 |oclc=29952151}}</ref> Some identify the tongues in Acts 2 as the primary example of tongues as signs for unbelievers.
* '''Comprehension'''. Some say that speaking in tongues was "not understood by the speaker".<ref name=grudem1994p1070/> Others assert that "the tongues-speaker normally understood his own foreign-language message".<ref>{{Cite book |first=Peter |last=Masters |author2=John C. Whitcomb |title=The Charismatic Phenomenon |publisher=Wakeman Trust |location=London |year=1988 |page=[https://archive.org/details/charismaticpheno0000mast/page/106 106] |isbn=978-1870855013 |oclc=20720229 |author2-link=John C. Whitcomb |url=https://archive.org/details/charismaticpheno0000mast/page/106}}</ref> This last comment seems to have been made by someone confusing the "gift of tongues" with the "gift of the interpretation of tongues" , which is specified as a different gift in the New Testament, but one that can be given to a person who also has the gift of tongues. In that case, a person understands a message in tongues that he has previously spoken in an unknown language.

===Pentecostal and charismatic practices===
{{Pentecostalism |key beliefs}}
[[File:Glossolalia religiosa, Falando em linguas pentecostal.flac|thumb|People speaking in Portuguese and languages during a Christian prayer as an assembly of gods on a hill in Tingua, Rio de Janeiro]]
[[Baptism with the Holy Spirit]] is regarded by the [[Christian perfection#Holiness Pentecostalism|Holiness Pentecostals]] as being the third work of grace, following the [[born again|new birth]] ([[first work of grace]]) and [[entire sanctification]] ([[second work of grace]]).<ref name="TWTHS2002">{{cite book|title=The West Tennessee Historical Society Papers – Issue 56 |year=2002|publisher=West Tennessee Historical Society.|language=en|page=41|quote=Seymour's holiness background suggests that Pentecostalism had roots in the holiness movement of the late nineteenth century. The holiness movement embraced the Wesleyan doctrine of "sanctification" or the second work of grace, subsequent to conversion. Pentecostalism added a third work of grace, called the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which is often accompanied by glossolalia.}}</ref><ref name="FahlbuschBromiley1999"/> Holiness Pentecostals teach that this third work of grace is accompanied with glossolalia.<ref name="TWTHS2002"/><ref name="FahlbuschBromiley1999"/>

Because Pentecostal and charismatic beliefs are not monolithic, there is not complete theological agreement on speaking in tongues.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}} Generally, followers believe that speaking in tongues is a [[spiritual gift]] that can be manifested as either a human language or a heavenly supernatural language in three ways:<ref>{{cite web |last1=Casanova |first1=Amanda |title=10 Things Christians Should Know about the Pentecostal Church |url=https://www.christianity.com/church/denominations/10-things-christians-should-know-about-pentecostalism.html |website=Christianity.com |access-date=2 December 2019 |date=6 April 2018}}</ref>
* The "sign of tongues" refers to [[xenoglossia]], wherein followers believe someone is speaking a language they have never learned.
* The "gift of tongues" refers to a glossolalic utterance spoken by an individual and addressed to a congregation of, typically, other believers.
* "Praying in the spirit" is typically used to refer to glossolalia as part of personal prayer.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wright |first1=N. T. |title=Acts for Everyone, Part One |date=2008 |publisher=Louisville: WJK |pages=210–211}}</ref>
Many Pentecostals and charismatics quote Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 14 which established guidelines on the public use of glossolalia in the church at Corinth although the exegesis of this passage and the extent to which these instructions are followed is a matter of academic debate.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Richardson |first1=William Edwin |title=Liturgical Order and Glossolalia. 1 Corinthians 14:26c–33a and its Implications |url=https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1137&context=dissertations |website=Andrews University |access-date=2 December 2019 |date=June 1983}}</ref>

The gift of tongues is often referred to as a "message in tongues".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Pentecostal Experience|last=Gee|first=Donald|publisher=Gospel Publishing House|year=1993|isbn=978-0882434544|location=Springfield, MO|page=154}}</ref> Practitioners believe that this use of glossolalia requires an interpretation so that the gathered congregation can understand the message, which is accomplished by the [[interpretation of tongues]].{{citation needed|date=October 2020}} There are two schools of thought concerning the nature of a message in tongues:
* One school of thought believes it is always directed ''to'' God as prayer, praise, or thanksgiving but is spoken in for the hearing and edification of the congregation.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
* The other school of thought believes that a message in tongues can be a prophetic utterance inspired by the Holy Spirit.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Signs of the Apostles|last=Chantry|first=Walter J.|publisher=Banner of Truth Trust|year=1973|isbn=978-0851511757|location=Edinburgh, Scotland|pages=22–23}}</ref> In this case, the speaker delivers a message to the congregation on behalf of God.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

In addition to praying in the Spirit, many Pentecostal and charismatic churches practice what is known as [[singing in the Spirit]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mookgo S. Kgatle |title=Singing as a therapeutic agent in Pentecostal worship |journal=Verbum et Ecclesia |year=2019 |volume=40 |doi=10.4102/ve.v40i1.1910 |s2cid=150696864 |doi-access=free |hdl=10500/26433 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Harper |first1=Michael |title=Releasing the Spirit: the Pentecostals |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-9/releasing-spirit-pentecostals.html |website=Christianity Today |access-date=31 August 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Religion – Christianity – Pentecostalism |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/pentecostal_1.shtml |website=BBC |access-date=31 August 2021}}</ref>

===Interpretation of tongues===
{{anchor|Interpretation of tongues}}
In [[Christian theology]], the ''interpretation of tongues'' is one of the [[spiritual gift]]s listed in [[1 Corinthians 12]]. This gift is used in conjunction with that of the gift of tongues{{snd}}the [[supernatural]] ability to speak in a language (tongue) unknown to the speaker. The gift of interpretation is the supernatural enablement to express in an intelligible language an utterance spoken in an unknown tongue. This is not learned but imparted by the [[Holy Spirit (Christianity)|Holy Spirit]]; therefore, it should not be confused with the acquired skill of [[language interpretation]]. While [[Cessationism|cessationist]] Christians believe that this miraculous [[charism]] has ceased, [[Charismatic Movement|Charismatic]] and [[Pentecostal]] Christians believe that this gift continues to operate within the [[Christian Church|church]].<ref name=foundations>Guy P. Duffield and Nathaniel M. Van Cleave, ''Foundations of Pentecostal Theology'', 1983, (Los Angeles: Foursquare Media, 2008), pp. 342–343.</ref> Much of what is known about this gift was recorded by [[St. Paul]] in [[1 Corinthians 14]]. In this passage, guidelines for the proper use of the gift of tongues were given. In order for the gift of tongues to be beneficial to the edification of the church, such supernatural utterances were to be interpreted into the language of the gathered Christians. If no one among the gathered Christians possessed the gift of interpretation, then the gift of tongues was not to be publicly exercised. Those possessing the gift of tongues were encouraged to pray for the ability to interpret.<ref name=foundations/>

==Non-Christian practice==
Other religious groups have been observed to practice some form of theopneustic glossolalia. It is perhaps most commonly in [[Paganism]], [[Shamanism]], and other [[mediumistic]] religious practices.<ref name=Rose1997 /> In Japan, the [[Shinji Takahashi (religious leader)#God Light Association|God Light Association]] believed that glossolalia could cause adherents to recall past lives.<ref name="Shifting Paradigms and Mediating Me"/>

Glossolalia has been postulated as an explanation for the [[Voynich manuscript]].<ref>{{Cite book|author=Gerry Kennedy, Rob Churchill|title=The Voynich Manuscript|location=London|publisher=Orion|year=2004|isbn=978-0752859965}}{{page needed|date=June 2020}}</ref>

In the 19th century, [[Kardecist spiritism|Spiritism]] was developed by the work of [[Allan Kardec]], and the practice was seen as one of the self-evident manifestations of spirits. Spiritists argued that some cases were actually cases of [[xenoglossia]].

==Medical research==
Glossolalia is classified as a non-neurogenic language disorder.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mendez|first=Mario F.|date=2018-01-01|title=Non-Neurogenic Language Disorders: A Preliminary Classification|journal=Psychosomatics|volume=59|issue=1|pages=28–35|doi=10.1016/j.psym.2017.08.006|issn=0033-3182|pmc=5748000|pmid=28911819}}</ref> Most people exhibiting glossolalia do not have a [[Mental disorder|neuropsychiatric disorder]].<ref name=":1" />

[[Neuroimaging]] of brain activity during glossolalia does not show activity in the language areas of the brain.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Newberg|first1=Andrew B.|last2=Wintering|first2=Nancy A.|last3=Morgan|first3=Donna|last4=Waldman|first4=Mark R.|date=2006-11-22|title=The measurement of regional cerebral blood flow during glossolalia: A preliminary SPECT study|journal=Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging|volume=148|issue=1|pages=67–71|doi=10.1016/j.pscychresns.2006.07.001|pmid=17046214|s2cid=17079826|issn=0925-4927}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2006/october/language-center-of-the-brain-i|title=Language Center of the Brain Is Not Under the Control of Subjects Who "Speak in Tongues" – PR News|website=www.pennmedicine.org|access-date=January 15, 2019}}</ref> In other words, it may be characterized by a specific brain activity<ref name="Am J Speech Lang Patho_24_4_2015">{{cite journal|first1=Ray D.|last1= Kent|title=Nonspeech Oral Movements and Oral Motor Disorders: A Narrative Review|journal=Am J Speech Lang Pathol|date=November 1, 2015|volume= 24|issue=4|pages=763–789|pmc=4698470|pmid= 26126128|doi=10.1044/2015_AJSLP-14-0179|issn=1058-0360|oclc=8146899752}} (at Appendix A)</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Cave |first1=David Sachs |last2=Norris|first2= Rebecca|url=https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/45980|title=Religion and the Body. Modern Science and the Construction of Religious Meaning|doi=10.1163/9789004225343|publisher=Brill|year=2012|hdl=20.500.12657/45980 |isbn=9789004225343 |access-date=April 16, 2021|oclc= 1238010307}}</ref> and it can be a learned behaviour.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Spanos, N. P.|author2= Cross, W. P.|author3= Lepage, M.|author4= Coristine, M|url=https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1986-17424-001|title=Glossolalia as learned behavior: An experimental demonstration|journal=Journal of Abnormal Psychology|year= 1986|volume= 95|issue=1|pages= 21–23|doi=10.1037/0021-843X.95.1.21|pmid= 3700843|oclc=4644067946|issn=0021-843X}}</ref><ref name="Am J Speech Lang Patho_24_4_2015" />

A 1973 experimental study highlighted the existence of two basic types of glossolalia: a static form which tends to a somewhat [[Repetition compulsion|coaction to repetitiveness]] and a more dynamic one which tends to [[Free association (psychology)|free association]] of speech-like elements.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=H A Osser |author2=P F Ostwald |author3=B Macwhinney |author4= R L Casey |title=Glossolalic speech from a psycholinguistic perspective |journal=J Psycholinguist Res |date=March 1, 1973 |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=9–19 |doi=10.1007/BF01067109 |pmid=24197793 |s2cid=36005466 |issn=0090-6905
|oclc=4664154487}}</ref><ref name="Am J Speech Lang Patho_24_4_2015" />

A study done by the ''American Journal of Human Biology'' found that speaking in tongues is associated with both a reduction in circulatory cortisol, and enhancements in alpha-amylase enzyme activity{{snd}}two common biomarkers of stress reduction that can be measured in saliva.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lynn|first1=Christopher Dana|last2=Paris|first2=Jason|last3=Frye |first3=Cheryl Anne|last4=Schell|first4=Lawrence M.|date=2010|title=Salivary Alpha-Amylase and Cortisol Among Pentecostals on a Worship and Nonworship Day|journal=American Journal of Human Biology|volume=22|issue=6|pages=819–822|doi=10.1002/ajhb.21088|issn=1042-0533|pmc=3609410|pmid=20878966}}</ref> Several sociological studies report various social benefits of engaging in Pentecostal glossolalia,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Culture and personality aspects of the Pentecostal holiness religion|last=Wood|first=William W.|date=1965|publisher=Mouton (IS) |oclc=797731718}}{{page needed|date=June 2020}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Hine|first=Virginia H.|date=1969|title=Pentecostal Glossolalia toward a Functional Interpretation|journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion|volume=8|issue=2|pages=211–226|doi=10.2307/1384335|issn=0021-8294|jstor=1384335}}</ref> such as an increase in self-confidence.<ref name=":0" />

As of April 2021, further studies are needed to corroborate the 1980s view of glossolaly with more sensitive measures of outcome, by using the more recent techniques of neuroimaging.<ref name="Am J Speech Lang Patho_24_4_2015" /> {{better source needed|date=January 2022}}

==Criticism==
Analysis of glossolalics reveals a pseudo-language that lacks consistent syntax, semantic meaning, usually rhythmic or poetic in nature and is similar to the speaker's native tongue. Samples of glossolalia show a lack of consistency needed for meaningful comparison or translation. It also is not used to communicate between fellow glossolalia speakers, although the meaning might be translated by the leader involved, in line with and supportive of whatever message or teaching had been given that day, in some way giving divine legitimacy to what is said. However it's more common that others than the leader translate.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Semenyna |first1=Scott |last2=Schmaltz |first2=Rodney |title=Glossolalia meets glosso-psychology: why speaking in tongues persists in charismatic Christian and Pentecostal gatherings |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA313159922&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=10639330&p=AONE&sw=w&userGroupName=anon%7Ee57ea58 |website=Gale Academic Onefile |publisher=Skeptics Society & Skeptic Magazine |access-date=13 September 2021}}</ref>

Various Christian groups have criticized the Pentecostal and charismatic movement for paying too much attention to [[mystical]] manifestations, such as glossolalia.<ref>Wolfgang Vondey, ''Pentecostalism: A Guide for the Perplexed'', T&T Clark, UK, 2012, p. 37-38</ref>

In certain [[evangelical]] and other [[Protestant]] Churches, this experience was understood as a gift to speak foreign languages without having learned them ([[xenoglossy]]) for evangelization, the end of which was prophesied in the [[First Epistle to the Corinthians]] in chapter 13, an end which would correspond to the end of the writing of the [[Bible]].<ref> Gerald R. McDermott, ''The Oxford Handbook of Evangelical Theology'', Oxford University Press, UK, 2013, p. 332</ref><ref> Mal Couch, ''A Bible Handbook to the Acts of the Apostles'', Kregel Academic, USA, 1999, p. 38</ref>

Theologians have recalled that on the day of [[Pentecost]], the disciples who received a [[baptism of the Holy Spirit]], did not speak in unknown tongues, but praised God in other tongues that non-believers in various parts of the world could understand, making it a useful gift for [[evangelism]].<ref> Bill Lockwood, [https://www.timesrecordnews.com/story/life/community/2016/12/10/gift-tongues-involved-speaking-foreign-languages/94726224/ 'Gift of tongues' involved speaking foreign languages], timesrecordnews.com, USA, December 10, 2016</ref><ref> Bill J. Leonard, Jill Y. Crainshaw, ''Encyclopedia of Religious Controversies in the United States, Volume 1'', ABC-CLIO, USA, 2013, p. 366</ref>

==See also==
{{div col}}
* {{annotated link|Aphasia}}
* {{annotated link|Asemic writing}}
* {{annotated link|Automatic writing}}
* {{annotated link|Biblical hermeneutics}}
* {{annotated link|Covenant theology}}
* {{annotated link|Direct revelation}}
* {{annotated link|Dispensationalism}}
* {{annotated link|Dream speech}}
* {{annotated link|Gibberish}}
* {{annotated link|Historical-grammatical method}}
* {{annotated link|Idioglossia}}
* {{annotated link|Logorrhea (psychology)|Logorrhoea}}
* {{annotated link|Scat singing}}
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* {{Citation |last = Martin |first = Dale B. |title = The Corinthian Body |year = 1995 |publisher = Yale University Press |location = New Haven, Connecticut |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fW_NSjdkA70C |isbn = 978-0300081725}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |editor-last=Cartledge |editor-first=Mark J. |title=Speaking in Tongues: Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives |publisher=[[Paternoster Press]] |year=2006}}
* {{cite book |last=Ensley |first=Eddie |title=Sounds of wonder: Speaking in tongues in the Catholic tradition |location=New York |publisher=Paulist Press |year=1977}}
* {{cite book |last=Goodman |first=Felicitas D. |title=Speaking in Tongues: A Cross-cultural Study of Glossolalia |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1972}}
* {{cite book |last=Gromacki |first=Robert G. |title=The Modern Tongues Movement |publisher=Baker Books |year=1976 |isbn=978-0801037085}}
* {{cite book |last=Harris |first=Ralph W. |title=Spoken by the Spirit: Documented Accounts of 'Other Tongues' from Arabic to Zulu |location=Springfield, MO |publisher=Gospel Publishing House |year=1973}}
* {{cite book |last=Hoekema |first=Anthony A. |title=What about tongue-speaking? |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Eerdmans |year=1966}}
* {{cite book |last=Johnson |first=Luke Timothy |title=Religious Experience in Earliest Christianity: A Missing Dimension in New Testament Studies |location=Minneapolis |publisher=Fortress Press |year=1998 |isbn=0800631293}}
* {{cite book |last=Keener |first=Craig |title=Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts |volume=1-2 |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Baker Academic |year=2011}}
* {{cite book |last=Kelsey |first=Morton T. |title=Tongue-Speaking: An Experiment in Religious Experience |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday |year=1964}}
* {{cite book |last=Kostelnik |first=Joseph |url=http://www.gtm.org/pvp/bookdetails.php?id=8 |title=Prayer in the Spirit: The Missing Link |publisher=Prophetic Voice Publications |year=1981 |isbn=9798764898568}}
* {{cite book |last=MacArthur |first=John F. |title=Charismatic Chaos |publisher=Zondervan |year=1993 |isbn=978-0310575726}}
* {{cite book |last1=Malony |first1=H. Newton |last2=Lovekin |first2=A. Adams |title=Glossolalia: Behavioral Science Perspectives on Speaking in Tongues |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1985 |isbn=0195035690}}
* {{cite book |last=May |first=Jordan D. |title=Global Witness to Pentecost: The Testimony of 'Other Tongues' |location=Cleveland, TN |publisher=CPT Press |year=2013}}
* {{cite book |last=Mills |first=Watson E. |title=Speaking in Tongues: A Guide to Research on Glossolalia |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=W.B. Eerdmans |year=1986}}
* {{cite book |last=Roberson |first=Dave |url=http://daveroberson.org/Media/7/WOSWOP%20English%20Printer%20Friendly.pdf |title=The Walk of the Spirit — The Walk of Power: The Vital Role of Praying in Tongues |date=22 January 1999 |publisher=Dave Roberson Ministries |isbn=978-1-929339-10-5 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130228020459/http://www.daveroberson.org/Media/7/WOSWOP%20English%20Printer%20Friendly.pdf |archive-date=2013-02-28}}
* {{cite book |last=Roybal |first=Rory |title=Miracles or Magic? |publisher=Xulon Press |year=2005 |isbn=9781597812504}}
* {{cite book |last=Ruthven |first=Jon |title=On the Cessation of the Charismata: The Protestant Polemic on Post-biblical Miracles |edition=2nd |publisher=Word & Spirit Press |year=2012}}
* {{cite book |last=Sadler |first=Paul M. |title=The Supernatural Sign Gifts of the Acts Period |url=http://www.dovhost.com/grace-books/SadleI05.pdf |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004232738/http://www.dovhost.com/grace-books/SadleI05.pdf |archive-date=4 October 2011 |publisher=Berean Bible Society |year=2001 |isbn=1-893874-28-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Sherrill |first=John L. |title=They Speak with Other Tongues |location=New York |publisher=McGraw Hill |year=1964}}
* {{cite book |last=Stronstad |first=Roger |title=The charismatic theology of St. Luke |location=Peabody, MA |publisher=Hendrickson Publishers |year=1984}}
* {{cite book |last=Tarr |first=Del |title=The Foolishness of God: A Linguist Looks at the Mystery of Tongues |location=Springfield, MO |publisher=Access Group Publishers |year=2010}}
* {{cite book |last=Yun |first=Koo D. |title=Baptism in the Holy Spirit |location=New York |publisher=University Press of America |year=2003}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|glossolalia}}
* Gerlach, Joel C., [https://web.archive.org/web/20100708052546/http://www.wlsessays.net/files/GerlachGlossolalia.pdf ''"Glossolalia"''] (from a [[Confessional Lutheran]] perspective)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x_NmYZ1OCY Video recorded during a Sunday Prayer Meeting]; 10 February 2008; [[Cochin, India]], [[Kerala]]; this prayer group functions under the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in India.
* [https://message-for-you.net/heavenly-sounds-english/ Example of singing in tongues with a music recording in mp3]; 2014; message-for-you.net; charismatic movement
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14776c.htm "Gift of Tongues"]. T. Reilly. ''The Catholic Encyclopedia''. Vol. 14. 1912.
* [http://www.scripturecatholic.com/tongues.html "Tongues".] by [[John Salza]], bible verses and the Catholic Church fathers on speaking in tongues
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20010619205618/http://www.bible411.com/glossolalia/ "Glossolalia"]. bible411.com. (Cessationist perspective)
* [http://wesley.nnu.edu/fileadmin/imported_site/wesleyjournal/1996-wtj-31-1.pdf "Glossolalia as Foreign Language"]. D. William Faupel. ''Wesleyan Theological Journal'' Vol. 31 No. 1 (Spring 1996): pp.&nbsp;95–109. (Historical study of Pentecostal beliefs)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101025121806/http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/topics/baptmhs_faq_tongues.cfm#alwaysinterpretation "Questions about Tongues"]. [[Assemblies of God USA]]. (Pentecostal perspective)
* [http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1974/JASA3-74Tappeiner.html "The Function of Tongue-Speaking for the Individual: A Psycho-Theological Model"]. Daniel A. Tappeiner. ''Journal of American Scientific Affiliation''. Vol. 26. March 1974. pp.&nbsp;29–32.
* [http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/gl/intro.html Andrei Bely's ''Glossalolia'' {sic} with an English translation]
* {{in lang|it}} [http://www.teatrocantiere.it/media/video-2/glossolalia/ ''Esperimenti di Glossolalia'']. A case of glossolalia in theatre.
* [http://soundcloud.com/new-pink-floyd/lalia "Lalia"]. Extreme episode of glossolalia captured in modern music.

{{Private revelation}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Constructed languages]]
[[Category:Language and mysticism]]
[[Category:Spiritual gifts]]
[[Category:Christian terminology]]
[[Category:Acts of the Apostles]]
[[Category:Pneumatology]]
[[Category:Christianity in Appalachia]]
[[Category:Charismatic and Pentecostal worship]]
[[Category:Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity]]