Cannibalinguistics

Language-learning and people-eating

« Catch a young swallow. Roast her in honey. Eat her up. Then you will understand all languages. » In his 1996 co-authored book, The art and science of language learning, Swedish polyglot Erik Gunnemark joked that people could use this recipe, which he’d found in an old book of black magic, to avoid the hard work of learning a new language.

I don’t think Gunnemark ever roasted a sparrow himself. In a typewritten letter he wrote me, before he died in 2007, that he spoke six languages fluently, seven fairly well, and fifteen at a « mini » level. Presumably he did so via some art, some science and some considerable swotting. Contemporary language learning, on gamified platforms like Duolingo and by language-learning coaches, offers a lot in the way of motivation boosting and « brain hacking ». But it never invokes supernatural forces like Gunnemark’s swallow-roasting spell — there are no shrines or temples, no patron saints, amulets, magical salves, prayers, or rituals devoted to language learning. I’d expect this sort of thing because folklore contains tales of heroes learning to speak to animals thanks to magic. The Norse hero Sigurd learned the language of the birds after tasting dragon flesh, for example, while ancient Greek myths prescribe the cooking and eating of snakes, or having a bee touch the ears. Perhaps Gunnemark’s spell wasn’t for human languages at all.