The Critical Period Hypothesis: Evidence from First Language Acquisition

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Soh Yeing Yeing

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The Critical Period Hypothesis: Evidence from First Language Acquisition

The notion that there is a biologically determined period during which language acquisition must occur, if it is to occur at all, is known as the critical period hypothesis. In Lenneberg’s original formulation, he claimed that “automatic acquisition from mere exposure to a given language seems to disappear [after puberty]” (1976, p. 176). Nature also provides many examples of biologically determined deadlines, such as the critical period for imprinting in birds. There are well-documented human examples of critical periods as well, such as the loss of the capability of the brain to receive visual input if there is no such input in the first two years of life. Gleitman and Newport say that “virtually any exposure conditions short of total isolation and vicious mistreatment will suffice to bring [language] forth in every child” (1995, p. 21). It is therefore difficult to acquire data on cases where less than complete ultimate attainment in first language acquisition. Besides, such cases are usually not well documented. In this paper, we will therefore focus on the few well-known cases in which there is a delay in the age of onset (AO), due to deprivation or isolation, and discuss what these cases imply with respect to the existence of a critical period in language acquisition.

The first case study is Victor of Aveyron. Victor was a “wild” child found wandering on the edge of the forest (Lane 1976). When he was discovered at twelve, he had no language, and showed behaviour as that of animals (ibid.). Attempts to teach him language failed and he died before he could acquire a semblance of a language.

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The next case study was discovered in 1970, when a nearly blind woman sought help for herself after captivity by her mentally unstable husband. Her thirteen-year old daughter, Genie, was admitted into hospital for malnutrition. Genie, like Victor, had no language when she was discovered. From the time she was twenty months old until her mother’s escape when she was thirteen, Genie spent her time strapped to a potty chair, and had minimal interaction and no talk. Her life and treatment before and after her discovery was documented by Curtiss (1977) and Rymer (1993). Genie did not talk at all ...

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