Thinking more about this I wonder if Tolkien is referring to 'speaking in tongues' - specifically xenoglossia (as opposed to Glosssolalia:
Quote:
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Xenoglossia: (a.k.a. Zenolalia, Xenoglossia) This is the ability to spontaneously speak a foreign language without first having learned it, or even been exposed to it. This term is also derived from two Greek words: Xenos, which means "foreign" or "foreigner", and glőssai, which means "tongues" or "languages." An event in which an individual who knows only English, has never been exposed to any other language, and who suddenly starts to speak in fluent Swahili would be an example of Xenoglossia. Stories of xenoglossia are well known, particularly within the Pentecostal movement and psychic research. E. D. O'Connor describes some cases. Another source claims that "no scientifically attested case of zenolalia has come to light." 6 Still another writer states that essentially all claims of xenoglossia are hoaxes. 7He claims that only one credible case has ever surfaced: that of a "Jewish woman who slipped into another personality" during hypnosis who was able to speak in Swedish.
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(See this site:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/tongues1.htm for a distinction between the two.)