The release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl from Taliban captors this week has raised many questions.

One of interest to students of language and psychology: Is it possible that the young man from Idaho lost much of his ability to speak and understand English during his five years as a prisoner in Afghanistan and Pakistan?

Bergdahl's father, Robert, suggested that during an initial video message to his son this week, in which he spoke partly in Pashto, the language of the captors. A Defense Department official confirmed to CNN that Bergdahl was struggling with English.

Though it's not uncommon for people immersed in a new language for months or years to suffer some "language attrition" in their native tongues, it would be unusual for an adult to lose a first language entirely or for normal skills not to return quickly, experts say.

MORE: Five questions surrounding Bowe Bergdahl

"Once a first language becomes established, it's not easily shaken," says Sandra Disner, a linguistics professor at the University of Southern California.

Even for long-held prisoners of war, language loss is rare, says Charles Marmar, chairman of psychiatry at the New York University Langone Medical Center and director of the NYU Cohen Veterans Center.

"Most people, even under conditions of brutal captivity, maintain their language," if only in their private thoughts and dreams, Marmar says. "It's a way of defining themselves and maintaining continuity with their previous life."

Special circumstances, including extreme isolation and trauma, might produce more profound language losses in some susceptible individuals.

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The Taliban have released a video showing the handover of American soldier Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl in Afghanistan. (June 4) AP

Marmar says he can't diagnose Bergdahl from afar with "Stockholm syndrome," but a "minority of people held under conditions of continuous threat … will strongly over-identify with their captors," adopting their language, clothing and mannerisms. "It's a way to be part of group that's in power. You feel safer."

Another possibility: Bergdahl is out of practice with any language. Roy Hallums, a private contractor held by Iraqi insurgents for 10 months, told CNN he was forced to stay silent in captivity. It took him a while to start talking at all, he said. "It's like your vocal cords are like your muscles in your arms," he said. "If they don't get any use, they get out of shape."

That doesn't explain why Bergdahl might have trouble understanding English, as his father suggested. Loss of understanding is much less likely than some loss of speaking ability, says Merel Keijzer, a Dutch expert on bilingualism who is a visiting scholar at Pennsylvania State University.

Studies "have been done in much less extreme situations," she says, "but in cases where comprehension is affected, it's very subtle."

If Bergdahl did lose English skills, "my guess is that within hours to days of being immersed in English-language culture, he will recover them," Marmar says.

That's what language experts see in people who return from happier language-immersion experiences, such as study-abroad programs, Disner says: "The good news is that after reasonably short exposure to their friends, their families and their music, English comes back like gangbusters."

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