By

Trump Wasn’t Always So Linguistically Challenged

BySharon Begley

It was the kind of utterance that makes professional transcribers question their career choice:

“… there is no collusion between certainly myself and my campaign, but I can always speak for myself—and the Russians, zero.”

[2] When President Trump offered that response to a question at a press conference, it was the latest example of his tortured syntax, mid-thought changes of subject, and apparent trouble formulating complete sentences, let alone a coherent paragraph, in unscripted speech.

[3] He was not always so linguistically challenged.

[4] STAT reviewed decades of Trump’s on-air interviews and compared them to Q&A sessions since his inauguration. The differences are striking and unmistakable.

[5] Research has shown that changes in speaking style can result from cognitive decline. STAT therefore asked experts in neurolinguistics and cognitive assessment, as well as psychologists and psychiatrists, to compare Trump’s speech from decades ago to that in 2017; they all agreed there had been a deterioration, and some said it could re fl ect changes in the health of Trump’s brain.

[6] In interviews Trump gave in the 1980s and 1990s, he spoke articulately,used sophisticated vocabulary, inserted dependent clauses into his sentences without losing his train of thought, and strung together sentences into a polished paragraph, which—and this is no mean feat—would have scanned just fine in print. This was so even when reporters asked tough questions about,for instance, his divorce, his brush with bankruptcy, and why he doesn’t build housing for working-class Americans.

[7] Trump fluently peppered his answers with words and phrases such as“subsided,” “inclination,” “discredited,”“sparring session,” and “a certain innate intelligence.” He tossed off (speak out naturally) well-turned sentences such as,“It could have been a contentious ((ccoonn--troversial) route,” and, “These are the only casinos in the United States that are so rated.” He even offered thoughtful, articulate aphorisms: “If you get into what’s missing, you don’t appreci-ate what you have,” and, “Adversity is a very funny thing.”

[8] Now, Trump’s vocabulary is simpler. He repeats himself over and over,and lurches from one subject to an unrelated one, as in this answer during an interview with the Associated Press:

“People want the border wall. My base definitely wants the border wall,my base really wants it—you’ve been to many of the rallies. OK, the thing they want more than anything is the wall. My base, which is a big base; I think my base is 45 percent. You know, it’s funny.The Democrats, they have a big advantage in the Electoral College. Big, big,big advantage. … The Electoral College is very dif fi cult for a Republican to win,and I will tell you, the people want to see it. They want to see the wall.”

[9] For decades, studies have found that deterioration in the fluency, complexity, and vocabulary level of spontaneous speech can indicate slipping brain function due to normal aging or neurodegenerative disease. STAT and the experts therefore considered only unscripted utterances, not planned speeches and statements, since only the former tap the neural networks that offer a window into brain function.

[10] The experts noted clear changes from Trump’s unscripted answers 30 years ago to those in 2017, in some cases stark enough to raise questions about his brain health. They noted, however,that the same sort of linguistic decline can also re fl ect stress, frustration, anger,or just plain fatigue.

[11] The change in linguistic facility could be strategic; maybe Trump thinks his supporters like to hear him speak simply and with more passion than proper syntax. But linguistic decline is also obvious in two interviews with David Letterman, in 1988 and 2013,presumably with much the same kind of audience. In the first, Trump threw around words such as “aesthetically”and “precarious,” and used long, complex sentences. In the second, he used simpler speech patterns, few polysyllabic words, and noticeably more fi llers such as “uh” and “I mean.”

[12] The reason linguistic and cognitive decline often go hand in hand, studies show, is that fluency reflects the performance of the brain’s prefrontal cortex, the seat of higher-order cognitive functions such as working memory,judgment, understanding, and planning, as well as the temporal lobe,which searches for and retrieves the right words from memory. Neurologists therefore use tests of verbal fluency,and especially how it has changed over time, to assess cognitive status.

[13] Those tests ask, for instance, how many words beginning with W a patient can list, and how many breeds of dogs he can name, rather than have patients speak spontaneously. The latter “is too hard to score,” said neuropsychologist Sterling Johnson, of the University of Wisconsin, who studies brain function in Alzheimer’s disease. “But everyday speech is de fi nitely a way of measuring cognitive decline. If people are noticing[a change in Trump’s language agility],that’s meaningful.”

[14] Although neither Johnson nor other experts STAT consulted said the apparent loss of linguistic fluency was unambiguous evidence of mental decline, most thought something was going on.

[15] John Montgomery, a psychologist in New York City and adjunct professor at New York University, said “it’s hard to say de fi nitively without rigorous testing” of Trump’s speaking patterns,“but I think it’s pretty safe to say that Trump has had signi fi cant cognitive decline over the years.”

[16] No one observing Trump from afar, though, can tell whether that’s “an indication of dementia, of normal cognitive decline that many people experience as they age, or whether it’s due to other factors” such as stress and emotional upheaval, said Montgomery, who is not a Trump supporter.

[17] Even a Trump supporter saw and heard striking differences between interviews from the 1980s and 1990s and those of 2017, however. “I can see what people are responding to,” said Dr.Robert Pyles, a psychiatrist in suburban Boston. He heard “a difference in tone and pace. … What I did not detect was any gaps in mentation or meaning. I don’t see any clear evidence of neurological or cognitive dysfunction.”

[18] Johnson cautioned that language can deteriorate for other reasons. “His language dif fi culties could be due to the immense pressure he’s under, or to annoyance that things aren’t going right and that there are all these scandals,” he said. “It could also be due to a neurodegenerative disease or the normal cognitive decline that comes with aging.”Trump is 71.

[19] Northwestern University psychology professor Dan McAdams, a critic of Trump who has inferred his psychological makeup from his public behavior, said any cognitive decline in the president might re fl ect normal aging and not dementia. “Research shows that virtually nobody is as sharp at age 70 as they were at age 40,” he said. “A wide range of cognitive functions, including verbal fluency, begin to decline long before we hit retirement age. So, no surprise here.”

[20] Researchers have used neurolinguistics analysis of past presidents to detect, retrospectively, early Alzheimer’s disease. In a famous 2015 study, scientists at Arizona State University evaluated how Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W.Bush spoke at their news conferences.Reagan’s speech was riddled with indefinite nouns (something, anything), “l(fā)ow imageability” verbs (have, go, get),incomplete sentences, limited vocabulary, simple grammar, and fi llers (well,basically, um, ah, so)—all characteristic of cognitive problems. That suggested Reagan’s brain was slipping just a few years into his 1981-1989 tenure; that decline continued. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 1994. Bush showed no linguistic deterioration; he remained mentally sharp throughout his 1989-1993 tenure and beyond.

這種說話方式會讓專業(yè)記錄人員懷疑自己入錯了行：

“……我和我的競選團隊之間當然沒有共謀，但我說的話永遠代表我自己——和俄羅斯人（也沒有共謀），絕對沒有?！?/p>

[2]上述為特朗普總統(tǒng)在某新聞發(fā)布會回答問題的最新實例。在即興演講中，特朗普句法扭曲，思維跑題，顯然很難組織完整的句子，更別提連貫的段落了。

[3]然而他以前并非總這么詞不達意。

[4]美國健康醫(yī)療專業(yè)媒體STAT回顧了特朗普數(shù)十年來的現(xiàn)場訪談，并將它們與他就職以來的問答環(huán)節(jié)相比較，發(fā)現(xiàn)兩者確有差異，且差異明顯。

[5]研究顯示，說話方式>的變化可能源于認知能力的衰退。因此，STAT請來了神經(jīng)語言學與認知評估領域的專家、心理學家和精神病學家，比較特朗普數(shù)十年前和2017年的語言變化。他們一致認為，特朗普的語言表達能力有所下降，其中一些人還表示，這可以反映出特朗普大腦健康狀況的變化。

[6]在特朗普20世紀80年代和90年代接受的采訪中，他口齒清楚，用詞老到，語句間嵌套從句卻思路連貫，所述句子串聯(lián)在一起就大體形成了可直接出版的完整流暢的語篇——這可絕非易事。甚至在回答記者提出的諸如離婚、破產(chǎn)危機以及為何不為美國工薪階層建造住房等刁鉆問題時，他也能游刃有余。

[7]特朗普的回答妙語連珠，使用了subsided（平息）、inclination（傾向）、discredited（名譽掃地）、sparring session（對決）和a certain innate intelligence（某種天賦）等詞匯及短語。他侃侃而談，字字珠璣，如“此舉措本該充滿爭議”“這些是美國僅有的經(jīng)過等級認證的賭場”。他甚至娓娓道出引人深思的名言警句，如“與其糾結過去所失，不如珍惜當下?lián)碛小焙汀澳婢持醒芍歉！薄?/p>

[8]相較于以前的發(fā)言，特朗普現(xiàn)在的詞匯更為簡單。就像美聯(lián)社的一次訪談中，他不厭其煩地重復相同的話，還動輒跑題。他是這樣回答的：

“民眾想要邊界墻，我這邊肯定也想要邊界墻，我這邊確實想要——你們都參加過多次集會了。好啊，他們最想要的就是這道墻。我這邊，這邊力量很大，我想我這邊占到了45%。你們都知道的，很好啊。民主黨在選舉團中有很大優(yōu)勢，很大很大很大的優(yōu)勢……共和黨很難贏的，我告訴你們，民眾想要看到它。他們想要看到邊界墻。”

[9]幾十年的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，即興演講的流暢性、復雜性和詞匯水平的下降可能表明大腦機能正隨年紀增長或神經(jīng)退行性疾病而逐漸衰退。STAT和專家們的研究故而只針對脫稿發(fā)言，而非事先撰稿的演講和講話，因為只有前者觸及神經(jīng)網(wǎng)絡系統(tǒng)，該系統(tǒng)是觀察大腦功能的窗戶。

[10]專家們注意到，和30年前相比，特朗普脫稿講話的水平變化明顯，甚至足以令人質(zhì)疑他的腦部健康。不過，他們指出，同類的語言能力衰退問題也可能反映了演講者的壓力、沮喪、憤怒或單純的疲憊。

[11]語言能力的變化或許出于戰(zhàn)略考慮?；蛟S特朗普認為，相對于規(guī)范的語法，他的支持者更希望他表達簡單點，情感豐富些。但是在1988年和2013年大衛(wèi)·萊特曼對他的兩場訪談中，特朗普語言水平的衰退也很明顯。兩次采訪所面對的觀眾群體大體一致。在前一次訪談中，特朗拋出了諸如aesthetically（審美觀念上）和precarious（岌岌可危的）之類的大詞，還使用復雜的長句。第二次訪談中，他的說法方式簡單多了，幾乎沒用多音節(jié)詞匯，“嗯”“我是說”等墊詞的使用明顯增加。

[12]為什么語言和認知水平的下降常常緊密相連呢？研究顯示，語言的流暢性反映了大腦額前葉皮層細胞的機能。大腦額前葉是高級認知指揮中心，功能包括工作記憶、判斷、理解和計劃等；那里還是大腦顳葉的所在地，顳葉負責從記憶里搜索并找出正確的信息。因此，神經(jīng)病學家會使用語言流暢測試，根據(jù)流利度的變化來評估患者的認知水平。

[13]比如，測試中，他們詢問病人可以列出多少以W開頭的單詞，可以說出多少個狗的品種，而不是讓病人自發(fā)說話。來自威斯康星大學、研究阿爾茨海默病對腦功能影響的神經(jīng)心理學家斯特林·約翰遜表示，后者“很難評分，但日常話語毫無疑問是檢測認知衰退的一個標準。如果人們意識到特朗普語言靈活性的變化，這就是有意義的”。

[14]雖然約翰遜和STAT咨詢的其他專家并沒有指出，語言流暢度的顯著下降是智力下降的明確證據(jù)，但大部分人都認為肯定出問題了。

[15]紐約大學兼職教授、心理學家約翰·蒙哥馬利表示，在對特朗普的言語模式“進行嚴謹測試之前，很難得出確鑿結論。但我認為，可以相當肯定地說，這些年來特朗普的認知水平有明顯衰退”。

[16]盡管如此，蒙哥馬利教授認為，遠距離觀察并不能確定特朗普的語言變化究竟是“失智的征兆，即許多人在衰老過程中都會經(jīng)歷的正常認知衰退，還是由其他（諸如精神壓力和劇烈情感波動等）因素所導致的”。教授本人并不支持特朗普。

[17]可即便是特朗普支持者也發(fā)現(xiàn)了他在上世紀80年代和90年代與2017年訪談間的驚人差異。“我能發(fā)現(xiàn)人們所說的差異。”波士頓郊區(qū)的精神病醫(yī)生羅伯特·派爾斯博士說。他聽出“（特朗普）語調(diào)和語速的不同……但我沒有察覺其間任何精神狀態(tài)或語義的差別。我并未發(fā)現(xiàn)任何指向神經(jīng)或認知功能失調(diào)的清晰證據(jù)”。

[18]約翰遜提醒說，語言能力可能由于其他原因而退化?！八恼Z言困難可能是由于承受的巨大壓力，或是為事情進展不順和所有那些丑聞而煩惱?！彼f，“這也可能是伴隨衰老而產(chǎn)生的神經(jīng)退行性疾病或正常的認知衰退現(xiàn)象?！碧乩势?1歲了。

[19]西北大學的心理學教授丹·麥克亞當斯是特朗普的批評者，他從特朗普的公開行為中推斷出了特朗普的心理特質(zhì)。麥克亞當斯說，總統(tǒng)的任何認知衰退都可能反映了正常衰老而非癡呆。“研究表明，事實上沒有人在70歲時還能像在40歲時那樣敏捷。”他說，“遠在達到退休年齡之前，包括語言流暢性在內(nèi)的大量認知功能就開始衰退了。所以，這并不奇怪?！盵20]研究者曾采用神經(jīng)語言學分析方法回測一些前任總統(tǒng)是否患有早期阿爾茨海默病。在2015年的一項著名研究中，亞利桑那州立大學的科學家分別評估了總統(tǒng)羅納德·里根和總統(tǒng)喬治·赫伯特·沃克·布什在記者招待會上的講話。里根的發(fā)言充滿了模糊名詞（something某些事，anything任何事）、“低意象性”動詞（have有，go去，get得到）、不完整的句子、匱乏的詞匯、簡單的語法和大量墊詞（well嗯，basically基本上，um呃，ah啊，so那么）——所有這些都是認知出現(xiàn)問題的典型特征。這也暗示了在1981—1989總統(tǒng)任期的前幾年中，里根的大腦功能就開始逐漸衰退，這種衰退（在他卸任后）仍在持續(xù)。他在1994年被確診患有阿爾茨海默病。布什則并未顯現(xiàn)語言衰退征兆，他的大腦在1989—1993任期乃至之后一直保持敏捷清醒。

特朗普話語并非總是如此令人費解

文/莎朗·貝格利譯/鄧新荷秦婷審訂/張瓊

（譯者單位：復旦大學奇境譯坊）