reversing words query
On Tue, 11 Jun 1996 I posted the following query on the CHILDES list> Does anybody know whether there is any literature on children and adults whom have
> taught themselves to turn words, or even sentences, around? I mean people who are able
> to immediately, and without thinking, produce the reverse of a word, like riahcleehw for
> wheelchair. I know these people exist, but I have no idea how common it is, the people I
> know of have all learned to do this during childhood. I will be glad with any replies, thanks
>
> Wolanda Werkman
> Dp. of Social Psychology
> Free University
> Amsterdam
> E-mail: WM.Werkman@psy.vu.nl
>Below I have listed the reactions I´ve received. Since there was quite some overlap in the reactions I have not put them all down here, but I wish to thank everybody who reacted to my query. Thank you all very much for your swift, detailed and very helpful reactions.
Here are some older references on nonpathological word reversal:
TI: The developmental course of two children who could talk backward five years ago.
AU: Cowan,-Nelson; Leavitt,-Lewis-A.
JN: Journal-of-Child-Language; 1987 Jun Vol 14(2) 393-395
AB: Describes the developmental course of backward speech in 2 children who were first examined by the present authors (see PA, Vol 68:7832) 5 yrs
previously (at age 9 yrs). Issues described include the role of practice in the maintenance and improvement of an unusual linguistic skill, the separability of the effects of maturation and practice, the stability of speech representations, and the motivation for continuing or discontinuing backward speech. (PsycLIT Database Copyright 1987 American Psychological Assn, all rights reserved)TI: The phonological and metaphonological representation of speech: Evidence from fluent backward talkers.
AU: Cowan,-Nelson; Braine,-Martin-D.; Leavitt,-Lewis-A.
JN: Journal-of-Memory-and-Language; 1985 Dec Vol 24(6) 679-698
AB: Examined the psychological representation of phonemes and syllables with a group of Ss who could voluntarily and rapidly rearrange speech units (i.e., "talk backward"). Ss included 20 8-54 yr old English-speaking backward talkers and 3 27-66 yr old German-speaking backward talkers. Each S clearly used a primarily sound- or spelling-based representation to talk backward, and the present work focused on the sound-based skill. Backward speech differed from a total acoustic reversal: 12 Ss reordered phonemic units, and one reordered syllables. These speech units proved to be abstract to some degree and hierarchically organized. However, the representation used in backward speech differed from the primary phonological system. It appeared to be a metaphonological system based on phonology but occasionally influenced also by orthography. It is suggested that phonological principles set lower limits for the size of units and orthographic principles set upper limits. A model of speech processing that includes both a primary, phonological, and a secondary, metaphonological level of representation is proposed. (35 ref) (PsycLIT Database Copyright 1987 American Psychological Assn, all rights reserved)TI: Talking backward: Exceptional speech play in late childhood.
AU: Cowan,-Nelson; Leavitt,-Lewis-A.
JN: Journal-of-Child-Language; 1982 Jun Vol 9(2) 481-495
AB: The game of "talking backward," invented independently by 2 male children (aged 9 and 10 yrs) was studied with reference to the role of speech play in linguistic, cognitive, and social development. The backward speech of the 2 Ss illustrates how phonology or orthography can be used as a basis of backward speech and demonstrates the Ss´ knowledge of phonemic units and letter-to-sound correspondences. Talking backward belongs to a larger class of language games that may be cognitively and pragmatically suited to children of this age. (25 ref) (PsycLIT Database Copyright 1982 American Psychological Assn, all rights reserved)TI: A fluent backward talker.
AU: Cowan,-Nelson; Leavitt,-Lewis-A.; Massaro,-Dominic-W.; Kent,-Raymond-D.
JN: Journal-of-Speech-and-Hearing-Research; 1982 Mar Vol 25(1) 48-53
AB: Documented the ability of a 31-yr-old man to reverse the order of segments within words so quickly that the simultaneous translation of forward speech into reversed speech was possible. Transcriptions of recorded backward speech and several processing tasks were used to clarify S´s profile of unusual linguistic skills. Analyses of the backward speech showed evidence of sensitivity to both phonemic and orthographic representations of the utterances. (24 ref) (PsycLIT Database Copyright 1982 American Psychological Assn, all rights reserved)
Jim Morgan———————————————————————————–
On another note, re: people who are good at reversing words either orthographically or phonologically, Barbara Hodson (Dept. of Communicative Disorders and Sciences, Wichita State University) and I and several students and former students have been looking at children´s abilities to manipulate phonemes by substituting, permuting, or deleting them from nonsense words. These abilities are closely tied to literacy skills; the children we have looked at who are reading below grade level nearly all are unable to perform such metaphonological tasks (they are asked to perform based on sound alone rather than orthographic shape; sometimes colored blocks are used to represent phonemes). Being able to reverse words in the phonological sense then would be dependent upon the ability to segment words into individual sounds as well, and the better the ability to do this, the better the literacy skills, as a rule. Furthermore, teaching school-aged children how to segment words and then manipulate them appears to improve both their spelling abilities and their reading scores. I found it also to be related (in adults) to the ability to speak Pig Latin and use other similar language games.
Ruth Day (who used to be in the Dept. of Psych. at Duke University; perhaps she still is) was doing some interesting research on adults and finding that some (whom she called "language bound") were unable to manipulate the sounds in their own language or even recognize when they wre being manipulated. They could not, for example, recite "Mary Had a Little Lamb" reversing /l/ and /r/; they could not perceive clusters which violated English morpheme structure such /lb-/–they reported hearing /bl-/ instead. Other adults ("language optional") were very adept at these tasks. However, she did not note that there were any differences between groups in terms of gender, choice of profession, intelligence, academic success, etc.
-Tina Bennett-Kastor———————————————————————————–
Although I don´t know of any literature on the subject, you might be interested to know that a very common children´s word-game in Chichewa (a Bantu language of southern Africa) is to reverse SYLLABLES within each morpheme in a sentence, so that "pita" ("go") becomes "tapi," etc. I wouldn´t be surprised if the same word-game is played in other languages in the region.Best wishes, Moira Chimombo
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If anyone is looking for a literary reference for reversing words, Margaret Atwood has written a character (female) into _The Robber Bride_ who does this. Amy Sheldon
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Cowan, Braine, and Leavitt (1985) published a study on fluent backward talkers in Journal of Memory and Language, 24, 679-698.
As I recall, there were two kinds of backward talkers: one kind reversed letters, the other reversed phonemes, more or less, though with many interesting complications arising from the fact that the performance is metalinguistic and does not tap phonological representations directly.
–Steve Pinker
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re talking backwards: Nelson Cowan published a paper on this topic in 1984 (Cowan and Leavitt) in the proceedings of the second IASCL congress, and they had an earlier paper in the Journal of Child Language in 1982: Talking backward:exceptional speech play in late childhood, 9, 481-495.
Cowan and Leavitt discuss both approaches to backward talking (orthographic or phonological reversals). Occasionally an adult appears on e.g. one of the late night television shows in the US to demonstrate this skill. The ones I have heard have used an orthographic approach, rather as if they are visualising the reversed word and pronouncing it as a new word.
jean berko gleason
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Thanks!
Wolanda
June 2nd, 2005 at 12:04 am e
I can talk backwards. I am a 27 year old female and when I was in the 6th grade, some researchers at the University of Oregon paid for me to be a study subject. I never really found out what they discovered (if anything) but it would be nice to find out. If you are looking for any information on that, the Psychology dept. at the university of oregon may have it in their archives.
-Jodi Newton
June 2nd, 2005 at 9:08 am e
[…] eakers
Some 20 years ago Nelson Cowan published a series of papers on fluent backward speakers. His recent work on verbal short-term […]
June 2nd, 2005 at 9:21 am e
Jodi — that is very interesting. I don’t know what brought you to my blog, but I am excited to finally hear from someone who can do this.
It will take me some time to track down a 15-years old study. But I’d like to ask you to help me understand more about backward talking.
If possible, I would like you to read the following sentences several times until you can memorize them. Then say them backwards, and write down what you said as accurately as possible. You may want to record your speech on a computer or to a cell phone.
Here goes:
I have some predictions but I won’t tell you before I hear from you
– gary
June 19th, 2005 at 9:58 pm e
I am also a 27 year old female who can speak backwards. It is something I invented as a game when I was in third grade I think, and am still able to do it on command. I am interested in learning more about this phenomenon. MKH
June 25th, 2005 at 1:59 am e
Hi,
I have just come across your site whilst looking for any information that might help me make sense. I have been able to speak backwards for as long as I can remember. I ‘ve always put it down to a sort of boredom,…when a word or phrase is said to me or said by me, I spend the next 5 -10 seconds mentally reversing it. Obviously much of my life so far has been wasted!!!
I am now 38 and my word-reversing has never decreased. The one or two friends that know about it regard me as being a little “Rain Man”-ish and think it’s very funny.
I am just looking for answers as to why I do it, and are there lots of us?
Yours
Neil Kerber
London, England
September 22nd, 2005 at 9:40 am e
I too came across your site through internet search. I have been able to reverse words in my head (instantly) for as long as I can remember. I used to do it at parties in college. I don’t even tell people anymore because I sort of got made into a freak over it! I’m interested in what it means, why I can do it, etc. Thanks.
October 12th, 2005 at 2:45 pm e
Hi, I just found that site, I can talk backwards fluently, I am Polish and I can speak backwards in any language I am able to pronounce the regular way. I am dying to meet someone with the same ability and to understand why we can do that and others don’t .I also wonder if that can be of any use? please,contact me if you know anything about talking backwards!
November 14th, 2005 at 2:52 pm e
Hooray, there are other people who do what I do. Thats great! Does anyone know why? I’m sure I reverse most words that I hear. Its also a good party trick. I’m a 30 year old male and have done this for as long as I can remember.
Suzi
December 12th, 2005 at 11:04 pm e
This is interesting…
I can also speak backwards — I wonder how common it is.
July 16th, 2006 at 8:38 pm e
I’m also really excited to see that others can do it too. I started doing it out of the blue one day during my junior year of high school. I’m 17 years old, so that was approximately two years ago. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why I started reversing my words and full sentences, it just happened. I can do it instantaneously out loud or in my head, depending upon the situation. I can also very easily write it down, but find that typing it is more difficult for me. All my family members and friends know about it and I’ve also found that it’s a great party trick. I’d love to know what relevance it has, if any, and what it means, if anything.
July 31st, 2006 at 12:09 am e
I am the King of backward talking, spelling and singing…though shy to perform in front of large groups. Is there a chance to be medically experimented with? Can I make a living by being “examinded” why my mind works this way??
July 31st, 2006 at 12:10 am e
Oops, I meant “examined”…” “denimaxe”…
August 3rd, 2006 at 2:14 pm e
Im a 23 year old male and, the same as Neil above i’ve been able to speak backwards for as long as i remember, because i play around with words in my head all the time. I can also say sentences backwards and stop when ive said exactly half the words in the sentence. [Sad] I think i must have a slight form of autism or something.
Any information regarding this would be great.
August 8th, 2006 at 8:22 pm e
Hi! I thought I was alone out here– I am 55yrs old & have been reading & talking backwards since I was about 10. I’ve always wondered why & how i can do this & I generally don’t share my “talent” with too many people as I’m made to feel rather strange. I’ve often wondered if it is an advanced form of dyslexia. I have 4 siblings, each truly brilliant & far more educated than I am & yet none can read & speak backwards. It really is nice to know that others also do this.
August 12th, 2006 at 1:17 am e
Hey! great to find there are people who can do what i can do…i can reverse words and also SPELL them orally after reversing! have been doing this since 6th grade….just discovered i can do it …Any application of this phenomenon? pls help…..does anybody want to study me? mail me at rahoolp@gmail.com
thanks! Rahool
September 10th, 2006 at 10:00 am e
I am 18ish and i have been talking backwards for about 6 years. in the beginning i too would spend about 5 to 10 seconds mentally reversing words. after a short while i amassed a pretty impressive vocabulary, but even in the early days i found it pretty easy so im not sure how much of this i owe to practice and how much is like, brain chemisrty or whatever. i can now say more or less anything backwards, and ‘translate’ instantly, example: ‘good morning mr black’ becomes ‘doog gninrom retsim kcalb’. but try as i have, i am unable to reverse whole sentences. it fries my brain, even if i say the individul words therein forwards. i have tried hard to get my sentence reversal as quick as my word reversal but my brain wont have anything to do with it. why might this be?
February 10th, 2007 at 8:20 pm e
Much like the rest of you, I came upon this website in search for some meaning to this meaningless. I am 27 yrs. old and i have been able to speak backwards as long as i could read forwards. for me, i think that it comes from obsessive compulsive behaviour. I was a “repeater” i had to do things twice, everything twice. To the point that i would make you say a sentence twice?! Over the years, that subsided.But not totally! I catch myself every now and then “checking” something. The speaking backwards thing is like a second language to me. I can write, read, spell and say words faster than you can get them out of your mouth. I’ m glad to hear that there are others out there like myself. Keep on truckin’ in the useless revolution!!
April 5th, 2007 at 6:36 pm e
I can speak backwards and have been able to do so fluently from the age of 5. As long as I can spell a word, I can say it backwards. I once went on That’s Life a UK TV programme hosted by Esther Rantzen and it was nice to meet other (9) people who could do it too. Out of the ten of us, only one (a school age boy) was self-taught. The rest of us could do it without really thinking about it!
December 3rd, 2007 at 9:48 am e
I too can speak backwards! For example, Please bring me a can of Coca Cola would be - Seelp ingirb eem a nac of acoc aloc. If you know what I mean! Can anyone explain to me how I can do this? I dont have to think about it, it comes natural. If somebody asks me to sing any song that i am familiar with, I can do it backwards! (or at least, each line backwards!) Many people find this very amusing!
I would be very interested to hear why i find it so natural yet others find it impossible?
Thanks
December 5th, 2007 at 10:47 am e
it’s not just me!!!
I have reversed words for as long as I can remember - I’m 35.
I have only recently ‘come out’ to my family and some colleagues at work, as it just occurred to me one day that perhaps not everyone does it. And boy was I right! I laughed when some one on a previous post mentioned ‘rain man’ and autism. That’s what my family says too!
I came across this site, because in accepting that what I do isn’t very common, I’ve become curious about why I do it… I also memorise telephone numbers and car registration plates. The only way I can explain it is that I see a pattern when I look at things.
I’d love to find out more about it.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:51 am e
Just read some of the comments about speaking backwards. Like Sara Daly, I was on the same That’s Life programme and sang Happy Birthday backwards to Esther Rantzen. I’ve also had this useless ability all my life and find it’s only useful as a party piece.
December 8th, 2008 at 3:08 pm e
Wow, 3 years later and here I am again. Since posting I have discovered I am a visual spatial thinker/learner. Maybe its something to do with this. What ype of learner/thinker are you? Izus