The release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl from Taliban captors this week has raised many questions.
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?
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 confirmed to CNN that Bergdahl was struggling with English.
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.
MORE: Five questions surrounding Bowe Bergdahl
"Once a first language becomes established, it's not easily shaken," says Sandra Disner, a linguistics professor at the University of Southern California.
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.
"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."
Special circumstances, including extreme isolation and trauma, might produce more profound language losses in some susceptible individuals.
The Taliban have released a video showing the handover of American soldier Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl in Afghanistan. (June 4)
AP
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."
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.
Studies "have been done in much less extreme situations," she says, "but in cases where comprehension is affected, it's very subtle."
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.
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."
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Bowe Bergdahl: Could he have lost English skills?
Yes. This could be a psychological phenomenon due to extreme stress and having to survive under terrible conditions.
In my own life I thought I was just hard of hearing during the end of my last marriage and often I either couldn't hear what was said to me or I was blocking it out. However, when I remarried my concentration and hearing came back so I realized I was mostly traumatized by my last marriage and once I was with someone actually being nice to me I was okay again. Likely, Bergdahl is so traumatized he can't find his English. Likely he believes he was going to die that day when Special Forces picked him up. I think he expected to die because of the way he was acting.
Hopefully, he begins to feel safe here in the U.S. (he may not). So, whether he recovers some or not at all will depend on many different factors.
The problems in the news (if he hears or reads about them) might keep his return to speaking English very sketchy for a variety of reasons. I don't think most people have ever dealt with the level of culture shock or trauma that Bergdahl has both being captured and now coming back to his own culture. Only someone like John McCain who survived years of imprisonment in North Viet Nam during the Viet Nam war would have any idea at all of how bad Bergdahl had it while being held captive in Afghanistan. In that culture also it was very likely Bergdahl was raped many times in order to subjagate him in the Pashtun culture to make him more submissive.
In regard to culture shock that he is now experiencing I can speak to that too. When I went to Japan it was different than I expected but not that bad because in many technical ways it is similar to the U.S. When I then went to Thailand it was a little more difficult but still the people are very polite and nice generally so I greatly liked the Thai people. Then when I went to Nepal it was a little more difficult and foreign for me but like with the Thai people I really liked their kind ways in Nepal and found most of the culture very precious and valuable to be around. However, when I went into India it is such a competitive culture for survival and always has been it is sort of like going to New York city a lot of places in attitude. This I found difficult as a Coastal Californian to deal with because some of it is very harsh, especially all the people starving and dying when I was there in 1985 and 1986.
But, the worst culture shock of all was coming home with my family 4 months later. It was like coming to another planet. There is the famous saying, "You can't go home again!" and I experienced this after 4 months in Asia. I found Americans robotic, hiding in their apartments and houses and cars from each other. So, I could understand why Asians often discriminate Against Europeans and Americans because we seem sort of like biological robots and remote to them culturally speaking.
Bergdahl likely will have this traumatic experience too trying to come back to the U.S. He might not do very well in the end. It's hard to say depending on his mental and physical health.
Note: The look in Bergdahl's face in the video when the transfer was made reminded me a lot of the man on "Game of Thrones" who was castrated as a form of torture and who lost it mentally because of constant abuse. So, I can see why he would need counseling to overcome the "STockholm syndrome" of doing whatever he is told so he isn't murdered or tortured anymore for 5 years.
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