Genie: the forbidden experiment A modern day ‘wild child’ Genie, a modern-day Wild Child Date found: 1970 Age when found: 13 Location: California, USA Years in confinement: 13

Genie: Background Information Genie was found by a social worker on November 4, 1970 She had been locked in a room and raised in isolation She received almost no oral input for more than 10 years When she was found, Genie was barely able to walk, barely made any noise, and she constantly spat She had been heavily punished for making noise

The Genie Team Genie was taken to a nearby Children’s hospital Word of the “Wild Child” soon spread and attracted scientists’ attention from all over the country A team of specialists was arranged to determine the course of her rehabilitation: Curtiss (linguist) Kent (psychologist) Shurley (psychiatrist, expert in social isolation) Butler (special education teacher) Rigler (psychologist)

The Forbidden Experiment Was Genie brain damaged from her years of abuse, or had she been mentally handicapped from birth? Psychiatrist Jay Shirley argued that, according to his brain waves experiment, she had indeed been mentally handicapped from birth. The linguist who worked with Genie has/had always maintained that she (Genie) was born a “normal” child, as evident by her constant motor skill improvement and her increasing communicative ability. As doctors observed her mental and physical growth, they predicted that her treatment would be a success.

Genie and Language Testing Lenneberg’s critical period hypothesis: Is Genie’s ‘Critical Period’ for language learning over? Experiments with Genie proved successful in improving the initial progress of her vocabulary acquisition. She had already passed the critical age of puberty, but she seemed to be learning a first language. Later experiments revealed that Genie had no apparent understanding syntax. “Genie appears to be acquiring these morphemes in an order not totally unlike first language acquirers…and not surprisingly, her order of acquisition looks more like first than second language acquisition” -A quote from the original members of ‘the Genie team’ regarding Genie’s progress

Taking care of Genie Genie’s Family Home Dr. Butler, the special education teacher appointed to work with Genie, wanted to be the girl’s official foster parent. Dr. Butler prevented other specialists from the team, including Dr. Curtiss and Dr. Kent, from visiting and working with Genie. Dr. Butler’s request to become Genie’s foster parent was denied. Dr. Rigler, Genie’s psychologist, then took charge of the case (and Genie). Genie lived with him, his wife and children for four years. Genie’s Family Home

Genie and Language Genie’s progress was as follows: Very shortly after she was rescued, she began imitating words and learning language. Her comprehension of grammar was completely absent. Phonology: She had trouble controlling her tone as she spoke; She usually spoke in a monotone voice. Semantic Development: She had no difficulty with terms such as ‘more’ or ‘less’ and was able to understand all ‘wh’-question words. Thus, her conceptual development seemed considerably more advanced than her linguistic development. Grammatical Development: Genie’s oral communication never grew to include the use of negative auxiliaries and she tended to group words and ideas in an inconsistent and/or odd order. In addition, she was unable to use ‘ed’ endings and, when spoken to, she seemed to have difficulty understanding the word order and/or meaning of some sentences.

Genie: A comparison with Young Children. Upon being tested when found, there did not appear to be any evidence of physical abnormalities: She had normal hearing, vision, and hand-eye coordination. Phonological Development: This was much the same as normal children: like most children, she learned to speak shorter words first before including longer words into her speech. Semantic Development: Unlike younger children who may typically have trouble understanding ‘what’ and/or ‘where’ questions, she understood all ‘wh’ questions. Grammatical Development: She had trouble mastering tenses and putting words into the correct order in order to make a coherent sentence. She also had trouble with prepositional phrases such as ‘under’ or ‘in front of.’

Genie Implication for Language Acquisition: ‘Genie’ represents a case of first-language acquisition after the onset of puberty. Many experts claim that ‘the Genie project’ supports the idea that humans are born equipped with a rich system of linguistic knowledge that, if not fully exposed to the appropriate stimuli early in life, will never completely develop. Others claim that ‘the Genie project’ proved little since it is not known whether she was born physically or mentally impaired and since she also suffered sever abuse and neglect at the hands of her parents for approximately 13 years.

Conclusion Ultimately, due to the inhumane nature of the study it would require, scientists will surely never receive the opportunity to discover whether Lenneberg’s theory is correct. (Genie’s locomotion was not that of ‘normal’ children)

References Combrie, Bernard. (2000). From potential to realization: an episode in the origin of language. Linguistics, 38, 989-1004. Curtiss, S. (1977). Genie: A psycholinguistic study of a modern-day “wild child.” New York: Academic Press. Guasti, M.T. (2002). Language acquisition: The growth of grammar. Cambridge, M.A.: MIT Press. FeralChildren.Com (2009, April). Language development in feral children. Retrieved April 20, 2009, from http://www.feralchildren.com/en/critical.php Shattuck, R. (1980). The forbidden experiment: The story of the wild boy of Aveyron. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux. Villiers, J.G., & Villiers, P.A. (1979). Early language. Cambridge, M.A.: Harvard University Press. Villiers, J.G., & Villiers, P.A. (1982). Language acquisition. Cambridge, M.A.: Harvard University Press. (Genie is now grown and lives in an assisted living facility.)