Editing Multilingualism (section)

===Hyperpolyglots and savants{{anchor|Hyperpolyglots|Polyglots and hyperpolyglots}}===
Many polyglots know up to five or six languages, but the frequency of polyglotism drops off sharply past this point.<ref name="Chohan 2">Chohan, Usman W. (2021). [https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3760731 "Who Is a Hyperpolyglot?"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206095828/https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3760731 |date=6 February 2021 }}. ''Linguistic Anthropology eJournal.'' Social Science Research Network (SSRN). Accessed 7 February 2021.{{Self-published source|date=June 2022}}</ref><ref name="Erard"/> Those who know more languages than five or six—[[Michael Erard]] suggests eleven or more, while Usman W. Chohan suggests six to eight (depending on proficiency) or more—are sometimes classed as ''hyperpolyglots''.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Steinmetz |first=Katy |date=30 January 2012 |url=https://healthland.time.com/2012/01/30/are-you-a-hyperpolyglot-the-secrets-of-language-superlearners/ |title=Are You A Hyperpolyglot?: the secrets of language superlearners |magazine=Time|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120202113329/http://healthland.time.com/2012/01/30/are-you-a-hyperpolyglot-the-secrets-of-language-superlearners/|archive-date=2 February 2012|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Chohan 2"/><ref name="Hudson">{{cite book|last=Hudson|first=Richard|chapter=Word grammar, cognitive linguistics, and second language learning and teaching|editor=Peter Robinson|editor2=Nick Ellis|title=Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition|location=New York|publisher=Routledge|year=2008|pages=99–123 |isbn=9780805853513|doi=10.4324/9780203938560-13|chapter-url=http://dickhudson.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/sla.pdf|access-date=24 February 2019|archive-date=25 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125162502/https://dickhudson.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/sla.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti]], for example, was an Italian priest reputed to have spoken anywhere from 30 to 72 languages.<ref name="Erard"/><ref name="Hudson"/>

The term ''savant'', in a general sense, may refer to any individual with a natural or innate talent for a particular field; however, people diagnosed with ''[[savant syndrome]]'' are specifically individuals with significant mental disabilities who demonstrate certain profound and [[Child prodigy|prodigious]] capacities or certain abilities far in excess of what would usually be considered normal,<ref>{{cite journal|pmid=9990844|year=1999|last1=Miller|first1=LK|title=The savant syndrome: Intellectual impairment and exceptional skill|volume=125|issue=1|pages=31–46|journal=Psychological Bulletin|doi=10.1037/0033-2909.125.1.31}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.intell.2003.11.002|title=Comparing the intelligence profiles of savant and nonsavant individuals with autistic disorder|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222427835|year=2004|last1=Bolte|first1=S|journal=Intelligence|volume=32|issue=2|page=121}}</ref> occasionally including a prodigious capacity for languages. Savant syndrome is almost always associated with an increased memory capacity of some sort, which can, for certain savants, aid in storing and retrieving knowledge of different languages.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Treffert |first1=Darold A. |title=The savant syndrome: an extraordinary condition. A synopsis: past, present, future |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |date=27 May 2009 |volume=364 |issue=1522 |pages=1351–1357 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2008.0326 |pmid=19528017 |pmc=2677584 }}</ref> In 1991, for example, linguists [[Neil Smith (linguist)|Neil Smith]] and [[Ianthi-Maria Tsimpli]] described a man, named Christopher, who learned sixteen languages even with a non-verbal [[IQ]] between 40 and 70. Christopher was born in 1962, and he was diagnosed with brain damage approximately six months after his birth.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bates |first1=Elizabeth |title=On Language Savants and the Structure of the Mind Review of: The Mind of a Savant: Language Learning and Modularity by Neil Smith and Ianthi-Maria Tsimpli, 1995 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/136700699700100204 |journal=[[International Journal of Bilingualism]] |date=September 1997 |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=163–179 |doi=10.1177/136700699700100204 |s2cid=142262640 }}</ref> Despite being institutionalized because he was unable to take care of himself, Christopher had a verbal IQ of 89, could speak English with no impairment, and could learn subsequent languages with apparent ease. This facility with language and communication is considered to be unusual for most diagnosed with savant syndrome.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Neil |last2=Tsimpli |first2=Ianthi Maria |title=Linguistic modularity? A case study of a 'Savant' linguist |url=https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=9d88b8fc1ba4f542267c159f037aac03ff933931 |format=PDF |journal=Lingua |date=August 1991 |volume=84 |issue=4 |pages=315–351 |doi=10.1016/0024-3841(91)90034-3 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>