GFH
ChrisLee
brian_wagner_summary_genie.docxBrian Wagner
The Development of Language in Genie: A Case of Language Acquisition
Beyond the “Critical Period
Genie was a special case in regards to human development. Never before had a person been subjected to such experiential, audible, and vocal stimuli. Genie had suffered serious neglect, even when it came to such basic human necessities as a bathroom and food. She was either strapped into a child’s chair, or she was stuck in a crib. She was kept in the house at all hours of the day and had rare human contact. She was either fed by her mother or berated by her father and older brother. She had almost no acoustic stimuli and was brutally punished by her father if she made any noise. Genie was born with a congenital dislocation of her hips, this called for the use of a special splint to keep her legs in abduction. Her father had blamed her supposed retardation on said splint. From information available for researchers there was no records of her having any form of retardation at birth.
As it comes to the development of Genie’s language, it is apparent that she had no language. Due to her father’s strict enforcement of her not making any sounds, she was for all intents and purposes mute. Dr. James Kent reported that at her discovery she made no sounds except for a throaty whimper, and at some points imitated certain words from sentences back to doctors. She was able to nonverbally explain her needs. When very angry she would scratch at her own face and void urine. Early in the investigation Genie was able to respond to verbal cues and could imitate single words. It was established that she had some form of language competence. Her challenge would be growing that language competence and then attempting to grasp the functions of speech.
As she was taught and observed, Genie certainly was eager to learn and willing to cooperate. Genie could understand singular words, but except for such words she had no understanding of grammatical structure and function. Susan Curtis was the most heavily involved in the testing of Genie’s language as well as her development. Through the use of these tests Genie’s vocabulary and skill improved. Words of 2 and 3 syllables became a new tool for her, as well she could produce any English sound. She was able to produce three and four word sentences, and later was able to produce negative sentences. Her progress very much paralleled early language development in children. Her linguistic competence was on par with a two to two and a half year old child. As she made incredible progress, she did hit a wall.
At a certain point her linguistic skills stopped growing, and it was apparent that due to her cognitive development being so impaired she could not get any better. This became the beginning of the end for Genie, as she her shortcomings in the research started to yield a definitive fact that if someone is as impaired as she is for so long and misses that critical time for learning, they cannot be brought up to normal standards. A time moved on Genie’s mom became her legal guardian and filed a law suit against her researchers. She has fallen out of the public eye after being cut off from hospital and UCLA.
