Isabelle Arnulf 1,2,3 , Ginevra Uguccioni 1,2,3 , Frederick Gay 2 , Etienne Baldayrou 4 , Jean-Louis Golmard 2,5 , Frederique Gayraud 6 , Alain Devevey 4 Show Affiliations »
Abstract
Objectives: Speech is a complex function in humans, but the linguistic characteristics of sleep talking are unknown. We analyzed sleep-associated speech in adults, mostly (92%) during parasomnias. Methods: The utterances recorded during night-time video-polysomnography were analyzed for number of words, propositions and speech episodes, frequency, gaps and pauses (denoting turn-taking in the conversation), lemmatization, verbosity, negative/imperative/interrogative tone, first/second person, politeness, and abuse. Results: Two hundred thirty-two subjects (aged 49.5 ± 20 years old; 41% women; 129 with rapid eye movement [REM] sleep behavior disorder and 87 with sleepwalking/sleep terrors, 15 healthy subjects, and 1 patient with sleep apnea speaking in non-REM sleep) uttered 883 speech episodes, containing 59% nonverbal utterance (mumbles, shouts, whispers, and laughs) and 3349 understandable words. The most frequent word was "No": negations represented 21.4% of clauses (more in non-REM sleep). Interrogations were found in 26% of speech episodes (more in non-REM sleep), and subordinate clauses were found in 12.9% of speech episodes. As many as 9.7% of clauses contained profanities (more in non-REM sleep). Verbal abuse lasted longer in REM sleep and was mostly directed toward insulting or condemning someone, whereas swearing predominated in non-REM sleep. Men sleep-talked more than women and used a higher proportion of profanities. Apparent turn-taking in the conversation respected the usual language gaps. Conclusions: Sleep talking parallels awake talking for syntax, semantics, and turn-taking in conversation, suggesting that the sleeping brain can function at a high level. Language during sleep is mostly a familiar, tensed conversation with inaudible others, suggestive of conflicts. © Sleep Research Society 2017. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Sleep Research Society]. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com
Objectives: Speech is a complex function in humans , but the linguistic characteristics of sleep talking are unknown. We analyzed sleep-associated speech in adults, mostly (92%) during parasomnias . Methods: The utterances recorded during night-time video-polysomnography were analyzed for number of words, propositions and speech episodes, frequency, gaps and pauses (denoting turn-taking in the conversation), lemmatization, verbosity, negative/imperative/interrogative tone, first/second person , politeness, and abuse. Results: Two hundred thirty-two subjects (aged 49.5 ± 20 years old; 41% women ; 129 with rapid eye movement [REM] sleep behavior disorder and 87 with sleepwalking/sleep terrors , 15 healthy subjects, and 1 patient with sleep apnea speaking in non-REM sleep) uttered 883 speech episodes, containing 59% nonverbal utterance (mumbles, shouts, whispers, and laughs) and 3349 understandable words. The most frequent word was "No": negations represented 21.4% of clauses (more in non-REM sleep). Interrogations were found in 26% of speech episodes (more in non-REM sleep), and subordinate clauses were found in 12.9% of speech episodes. As many as 9.7% of clauses contained profanities (more in non-REM sleep). Verbal abuse lasted longer in REM sleep and was mostly directed toward insulting or condemning someone, whereas swearing predominated in non-REM sleep. Men sleep-talked more than women and used a higher proportion of profanities. Apparent turn-taking in the conversation respected the usual language gaps. Conclusions: Sleep talking parallels awake talking for syntax, semantics, and turn-taking in conversation, suggesting that the sleeping brain can function at a high level. Language during sleep is mostly a familiar, tensed conversation with inaudible others, suggestive of conflicts. © Sleep Research Society 2017. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Sleep Research Society]. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com
Entities: Disease
Species
Keywords:
REM sleep behavior disorder; language; linguistics; semantics; sleep talking; sleepwalking; syntax; verbal abuse
Mesh： See more »
Year: 2017
PMID： 29029239 DOI： 10.1093/sleep/zsx159
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Sleep ISSN： 0161-8105 Impact factor: 5.849