Language acquisition: Encyclopedia II - Language acquisition - The Critical Period Hypothesis

Language acquisition - The Critical Period Hypothesis

Linguist Eric Lenneberg (1964) stated that the crucial period of language acquisition ends around the age of 12 years. He claimed that if no language is learned before then, it could never be learned in a normal and fully functional sense. This was called as the "Critical period Hypothesis."

An interesting example of this is the case of Genie, also known as "The Wild Child". A thirteen-year-old victim of lifelong child abuse, Genie was discovered in her home on November 4th, 1970, strapped to a potty chair and wearing diapers. She appeared to be entirely without language. Her father had judged her retarded at birth and had chosen to isolate her, and so she had remained up there until her discovery.

It was an ideal (albeit horrifying) opportunity to test the theory that a nurturing environment could somehow make up for a total lack of language past the age of 12. Unfortunately, she was unable to acquire language completely, although the degree to which she acquired language is disputed. [2] Due to this and other complications, she eventually ended up in an adult foster care home.

Detractors of the "Critical Period Hypothesis" point out that in this example and others like it (see Feral children), the child is hardly growing up in a nurturing environment, and that the lack of language acquisition in later life may be due to the results of a generally abusive environment rather than being specifically due to a lack of exposure to language.

The current, up-to-date ideas about the Critical Period Hypothesis are represented by the University of Maryland, College Park instructor Robert DeKeyser. DeKeyser argues that although it is true that there is a critical period, this does not mean that adults cannot learn a second language perfectly. DeKeyser talks about the role of language aptitude as opposed to the critical period. ^{[citation needed]}

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The Critical Period Hypothesis", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki