In 1970, a 13-year-old girl was discovered in Los Angeles. Her name was Genie, and the conditions in which she was found were appalling. Genie had been treated like an animal since the age of 20 months. She was confined to a small, curtained room and spent most of her days strapped to a potty chair, unable to move except for her hands and feet. At night, Genie was confined in a cage-like crib and restrained in a straightjacket-type garment. She had no bowel or bladder control, could not stand in an erect posture, was severely malnourished, and was unable to chew solid food. Genie was also mute; she could not speak and could not understand language. The only sounds she had ever heard were those made by her father on the occasions he beat her for crying or making noises. Genie had been held prisoner by her father, a man who never spoke to her and would not allow anyone else to do so.
Genie was removed from her father’s custody and taken to Los Angeles Children’s Hospital, where she was nursed back to physical health. She underwent psychological evaluation to determine her mental status and level of cognitive functioning, including her ability to produce and comprehend language. Following all necessary assessments, psychologists embarked on the task of teaching Genie language. Because Genie was attempting to acquire language at age 13, her psychologists were presented with a unique opportunity to study the critical period theory relative to learning language, the notion that there is a time early in a child’s life when language learning must begin, if language is to be learned at all. Genie was far past that proposed critical period. Further, she knew no grammar and had virtually no language ability. The researchers working with Genie approached the task of teaching her language in much the same manner they would teach a younger child, by direct exposure to spoken language as a function of engagement in daily activities. Initially, Genie would speak only one or two words at a time, but she did progress, up to a point. Though she eventually progressed to the degree of combining two and three words into phrases, she never progressed beyond the level of a 3- or 4-year-old child in her language abilities, and never made the progression from simple words into grammatically correct sentences. What do you think that Genie’s story tells us about language development, with regards to critical periods of learning language?
