The Critical Period Hypothesis for Language PDF

The Critical Period Hypothesis for Language There is a limited developmental time period during which it is possible to acquire a language to native-like levels. What is the evidence? 21 The Critical Period Hypothesis for Language Genie (Curtiss, 1978) • was found in 1970, at age 13. • Had been c...

The Critical Period Hypothesis for Language There is a limited developmental time period during which it is possible to acquire a language to native-like levels. What is the evidence? 21 The Critical Period Hypothesis for Language Genie (Curtiss, 1978) • was found in 1970, at age 13. • Had been confined alone in a small room by her father, without access to proper nutrition, care or socialization. • At the time of discovery she was nearly mute, not having been exposed to linguistic input. 22 The Critical Period Hypothesis for Language Genie was “adopted” by linguists at UCLA who worked hard to help her to learn language. In training she was able to learn how to: • communicate a message (verbally or nonverbally) • acquire vocabulary She could not learn how to: • use grammatical words/word parts (e.g. -s, -ed, ing) or complex syntax 23 The Critical Period Hypothesis for Language: Genie These cases suggest that after the critical period, the language centers in the left hemisphere do not develop normally. But…why might we hesitate to make strong claims about a critical period for human language based only on cases like Genie? 24