{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,20]],"date-time":"2026-10-20T10:46:07Z","timestamp":1792493167925,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,11,1]],"date-time":"2017-11-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1509494400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/journals\/pages\/open_access\/funder_policies\/chorus\/standard_publication_model"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100007369","name":"Institut de France","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100007369","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2017,11,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Objectives<\/jats:title><jats:p>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.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>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.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Two hundred thirty-two subjects (aged 49.5 \u00b1 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 \u201cNo\u201d: 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.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title><jats:p>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.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1093\/sleep\/zsx159","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,11,15]],"date-time":"2017-11-15T16:17:28Z","timestamp":1510762648000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":38,"title":["What Does the Sleeping Brain Say? Syntax and Semantics of Sleep Talking in Healthy Subjects and in Parasomnia Patients"],"prefix":"10.1093","volume":"40","author":[{"given":"Isabelle","family":"Arnulf","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Sleep Disorders Unit, AP-HP, Piti\u00e9-Salp\u00eatri\u00e8re Hospital, Paris, France"},{"name":"AP-HP, Piti\u00e9-Salp\u00eatri\u00e8re Hospital \u2013 UPMC, Sorbonne Universities, Paris, France"},{"name":"Brain and Spine Institute \u2013 ICM, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, UPMC, Paris, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ginevra","family":"Uguccioni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sleep Disorders Unit, AP-HP, Piti\u00e9-Salp\u00eatri\u00e8re Hospital, Paris, France"},{"name":"AP-HP, Piti\u00e9-Salp\u00eatri\u00e8re Hospital \u2013 UPMC, Sorbonne Universities, Paris, France"},{"name":"Brain and Spine Institute \u2013 ICM, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, UPMC, Paris, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Frederick","family":"Gay","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"AP-HP, Piti\u00e9-Salp\u00eatri\u00e8re Hospital \u2013 UPMC, Sorbonne Universities, Paris, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Etienne","family":"Baldayrou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Speech Therapy School, ELLIADD EA 4661, Franche-Comt\u00e9 University, Besan\u00e7on, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jean-Louis","family":"Golmard","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"AP-HP, Piti\u00e9-Salp\u00eatri\u00e8re Hospital \u2013 UPMC, Sorbonne Universities, Paris, France"},{"name":"Department of Biostatistics, AP-HP, Piti\u00e9-Salp\u00eatri\u00e8re Hospital, Paris, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Frederique","family":"Gayraud","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dynamic of Language 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