Christina Craig

19 February 2018

Dr. Roberts

Use it or Lose it: Language Acquisition

At certain points in an organism’s maturation, the nervous system can become

particularly sensitive to environmental stimuli; this is called a critical period and these are

typically studied under developmental focuses of biology and psychology. During critical

periods, if the environment does not allow for a certain skill or trait to be developed, then it is

significantly more difficult to acquire after that period has passed. Language, as well as hearing,

binocular vision, and the vestibular system, has a critical period. Language is vocal-auditory

which complicates the learning process slightly because if words are not both heard and spoken,

those elements will not be as developed. For example, deaf children rarely feel comfortable

speaking.

Language acquisition and linguistics have a specific hypothesis debating the extent to

which the ability to acquire language is biologically linked to age called the critical period

hypothesis (CPH). The hypothesis was first proposed in 1959 by Wilder Penfield and Lamar

Roberts in ​Speech and Brain Mechanisms,​ but was popularized in 1967 by Eric Lenneberg’s

Biological Foundations of Language.​ Lenneberg proposes that there are maturational constraints

on first-language acquisition and that full mastery cannot be achieved after puberty. This may be

due to youthful resiliency of neural reorganization - some research argued that children who

experience early brain injury are more able to learn language skills than adults with brain injuries

(Siegler, Eisenberg, DeLoache, & Saffran, 2014). Other research suggests that delayed prefrontal
maturation may be at least partially contributing to the existence of a first-language critical

period in children; this delayed development may facilitate convention learning allowing young

children to learn more easily than cognitively mature individuals (Ramscar & Gitcho, 2007).

This slower prefrontal development pattern is unique to humans which possibly explains why

humans are more adept than other species are language acquisition (Dye, 2010). The critical

period hypothesis suggests that first-language acquisition must occur before cerebral

lateralization is complete around puberty. If language is not attained by puberty, certain aspects

of language may never be able to be attained.

Although the theory is much less accepted than its predecessor, the critical period

hypothesis can be extended to critical periods for second-language acquisition as well. With

second languages, older children often progress through the initial stages of acquisition faster

than younger children. In ​The Age Factor in Second Language Acquisition​, David Singleton and

Zsolt Lengyel demonstrate that “younger = better in the long run”. Unlike the first-language

critical period, the second-language critical period never completely closes; however, only about

five percent of adult bilinguals successfully master a second language. If the second-language is

acquired before puberty, the two languages will be similarly learned (Snow & Hoefnagel-Hohle,

1978). More specifically, second languages learned before the age of seven are most easily

grasped. Jacqueline Johnson & Elissa Newport in 1989 tested U.S. immigrants from ages three to

thirty-nine on their second-language acquisition (English). They found a decline in grammatical

correctness after seven-years-old and attributed the decline to aged-related language-learning

ability (Johnson & Newport, 1989). Opponents of this research argue that the decline could be

contributed to the differences in inputs between adults and children; children receive reduced
input while adults receive more complicated structures. A strict critical period for language may

not exist, though, as the work of Pallier et al (2003) proposes. French-adopted Korean children in

the study were able to become native-like in speaking after the phonology critical period closed,

but while practically losing their first-language. Another opponent proposes that the ability for

non-native speakers to become native-like is determined by aspects of their first language.

The critical period is a difficult subject to test because human subjects acquire language

uniquely and concern for their well-being is prioritized in research. Two main examples exist to

demonstrate late-language exposure resulting in feral children - Victor of Aveyron and Genie.

Victor of Aveyron (1788 - 1828) was a French child found around the age of 12 - doctor’s

guessed his age based on his stage in puberty. He was fostered in many homes and ran from

civilization about eight times until his situation was reviewed by Jean Marc Gaspard Itard. He

believed that Victor has “lived in an absolute solitude from his fourth or fifth almost twelfth

year”. Itard adopted Victor for five years while teaching him words and recording his progress.

Although he showed significant early progress in understanding language and reading simple

words, Victor did not progress beyond a simple level (Malson & Itard, 1972). Itard wrote, “his

ear was not an organ for the appreciation of sounds, their articulations and their combinations; it

was nothing but a simple means of self-preservation which warned of the approach of a

dangerous animal or the fall of wild fruit.” Victor only ever learned to spell out “milk” and “oh,

god” and never really spoke, but he did progress in his world-views showing empathy towards

grieving.

Genie was born in 1957. Her father concluded when she was a baby that she was severely

mentally retarded and withheld care and attention because he disliked her. From 20 months old
to 13 years and 7 months old, he kept Genie locked alone in a room. She was strapped to a

child’s toilet or her arms and legs were bound to a crib; she was also severely malnourished.

Within months of her abuse coming to the attention of L.A., psychologists, linguists, and other

scientists tried to study her for human development purposes. She immediately began developing

nonverbal communication skills and basic social skills; but by the end of her case study, she still

exhibited many traits of an unsocialized individual and ultimately unable of acquiring a first

language (Curtiss & Whitaker, 2014). After she turned 18, she returned to live with her mother

who shortly determined that she could not adequately care for Genie (Fromkin, Krashen, Curtiss,

Rigler, & Rigler, 1974). Genie then rotated through institutions for disabled adults where she

was, again, isolated and extremely emotionally and physically abused (PBS 1997). This caused

her to deteriorate physically and mentally deteriorate while losing her acquired language and

behavioral skills.

The existence of this critical period is more clearly defined because of these two natural

examples of unsocialized children. More specifically, the first-language acquisition period is

defined. These rare cases have demonstrated speculated beliefs about the development of

language and the “use it or lose it” mentality that directly applies to initial learning. Critical

periods occur in different forms all across nature like in greylag geese imprinting and young

chaffinches learning their sing-song. The critical period in humans largely determines the ability

for societal interaction.

Works Cited

Curtiss, S., & Whitaker, H. A. (2014). ​Genie: a Psycholinguistic Study of a Modern-Day Wild

Child​. Saint Louis: Elsevier Science.

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language in genie: a case of language acquisition beyond the “critical period”. ​Brain and

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Johnson, J. S., & Newport, E. L. (1989). Critical period effects in second language learning: The

influence of maturational state on the acquisition of English as a second language.

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Malson, L., & Itard, J. M. (1972). ​Wolf children, Lucien Malson; , the wild boy of Aveyron, Jean

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Language Replace the First? ​Cerebral Cortex,13(​ 2), 155-161.

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