A late response to a few posts –
RickyZ – post 1,893
Yes – what you describe is the ‘experience’ and, as mentioned, no argument there – when glossolalia is used as the tool that it is, the results can be very real and very powerful.
Don’t laugh – Google translate will pick up on the first word it can identify in any language and go from there. I’ve tried it. Depending on where you start the playback in a recording determines what it will ‘translate’ for you. The results are pretty funky.
That’s actually a very good question, i.e. “does it have to be a human language?” I guess it depends on how you approach it. As far as sounds themselves go; no, it does not need to be a human language, but with that said, a human (unless imitating the sound of an animal) will essentially only produce sounds found in human languages (anything from really odd sounding vowels to the clicks found in some African languages), i.e. only those which the human vocal tract is capable of producing. No, it doesn’t need to be a language spoken on earth;
but, it needs to be
language; something modern tongues is not (for an in-depth discussion on why tongues are not language see:
https://christianchat.com/blogs/why-“tongues”-are-not-language-part-1-of-2.176664/ and
https://christianchat.com/blogs/why-“tongues”-are-not-language-part-2-of-2.176665/ )
Granted, a ‘spiritual language’ may not need to have the same limits and constraints as human language, but again, it must be ‘language’. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the movie “Arrival” at all, but with respect to how linguists might look at a language which transcends human ideas of language (okay, in the case of the movie, an alien one), it’s pretty interesting how we’d need to rethink some of our concepts of ‘language’ with respect to how it works.
But again, no matter where a language may be spoken, and no matter by whom it may be spoken, it must first meet universal criteria for being “language”. Modern tongues just does not meet any of those criteria.
I do believe that there is some form of language/communication in the spiritual realm, but I don’t think it’s accomplished by anything that resembles a human vocal tract.
Splagna (post 1,908)
You just need to research the history of the movement particularly the doctrine of tongues pre-1906 and then post-1907 to see the complete change from the original thought/theory of xenoglossy (speaking a real rational language) to the concept of "prayer language" (speaking something that is not a real, rational language). – after the fail of Parham’s missionaries, the doctrine needed to either be redefined, since xenoglossy obviously wasn't what was being produced/done, or the movement needed to admit that they were wrong about tongues (being xenoglossy). They chose the former and redefined it.
I know I have more references somewhere – If I can find them, I’ll post them, but for now – here’s a few from one source:
https://charlesasullivan.com/4350/a-new-kind-of-tongues/
https://charlesasullivan.com/tag/philip-schaff/
https://charlesasullivan.com/9179/early-pentecostal-tongues-part-2/
https://charlesasullivan.com/9604/early-pentecostal-tongues-part-3/