- Several inhumane experiments were conducted where infants were isolated from language exposure to see what language they would develop. In one case, two infants raised by a mute shepherd uttered their first word in Phrygian language at age 2. - There are reported cases of children found living in the wild and raised by animals as well as children isolated by parents or circumstances from language exposure due to deafness or blindness. - The language acquisition of children in isolation cases is influenced by the age they are first exposed to language and the extent of any physical, psychological, or social trauma experienced prior to exposure. Early exposure and less trauma lead to better language learning outcomes.

1. WILD AND ISOLATED CHILDREN and
THE CRITICAL AGE ISSUE for
LANGUAGE LEARNING
Ulfathikara(16202241004)
AnnisaRuriP. (16202241013)
PuspitaPertiwi(16202241016)

2. Evil Experiment
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Some experiments have already been carried out what language children would develop if they had
never been exposed to speech.
Psamtik, one of the Egyptian kings, took two infants and they were given to a shepherd with the
instruction to raise them without being exposed to speech. The king assumption was without outside
inteference, the children might would speak the original human language, Egyptian, because Egyptians belived
they were the most ancient peoples.
At about the age of 2 years, the children’s first word was ‘bekos’, it meant ‘bread’ in the Phrygian
language which is spoken in central Turkey. After hearning the children say that word, he got the unwanted
result of original language. He assumed that the sounds could have come from the children imitating sheep or
goats.
Some people also conducted the same inhumane experiments with infants. The findings are children could not
live without interaction and the children are placed in a house with mutes for years, they did not speak at all.

3. The Enlightment
and the Noble Savage
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There is great scientific interest in the origin of language and the effect of language isolation.
The isolation cases may tell us something about the nature of human language, how it is learned,
and when it is best learned. In conducting some experiment, the scientists are now concerning
some natural cases.
Children raised by animals
Linnaeus, the famous Swedish scientist, discovered nine reports of children found in the wild
and raised by animals: a wolf-boy from Hesse (1334), a Lithuanian bear-boy (1661), an Irish sheep-
boy (1672), Peter, a girl from Cranenburg (1717), a girl from Champagne (1731), two girls raised by
wolves in India.
Children raised in isolation from language
There are cases of children who have been kept in isolation by thier parents or others and
were not exposed to language, a great number of children who have been raised by loving parents
but because of a physical dissability such as deafness and blindness, they have been isolated from
language.

4. CASES
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5. 5
A critical Age for
fisrt-language acquisition
Why did Only Isabelle and Helen fully learned Language?
Here are the factors which influence first-language acquisition:
a. No exposure to language, children will not acquire any language.
b. Children need some form of exposure (speech, signs, writing, or
touch, before language learning can occur.
c. Exposure should be offered as early as possible in the child’s life.

6. Two major factors governing language learning
These relate to exposure to language and the extent of
non-linguistic trauma:
1. The age at which exposure to language began
2. The extent of any physical, psychological, and social
trauma prior to exposure to language.

7. 7
Victor Progressed more in written language
than in speech
The finding suggests that the motor skill of speech production is
more affected by age than intellectual language ability. This is
not surprising given that we know that around puberty new motor
skills are not easily acquired.

8. 8
Why did Genie not Progress
More than She Did?
Geine’s speech production ability faulty in terms of
pronunciation may be related to factors which operate
in the acquisition of second language pronunciation
by ordinary people. The ability to control certain
muscles of the body in particular articulators of
speech (tongue, mouth, vocal cords, etc.) generally
begins to decline around 10-12 years old. Even so,
we cannot be sure that Genie’s poor speech ability
was not the result of some negative psychological
influence due to her mistreatment.

9. 9
Chelsea: Insufficient Evidence
Chelsea’s case demonstrates that beyond a critical age for
language acquisition, syntax cannot be learned but other
aspects of language are not affected such as vocabulary and
the proper use of language in context, pragmatics. But this is
less convincing because the crucial data for critical age lie in
syntactic understanding and not production. And in this regard,
Chelsea’s abilities were not assessed.

10. 10
The Achievements of Isabelle and Hellen
The contrast achievement between Hellen and Victor-
Genie is caused by one factor, loving family. Hellen had a
family who did their utmost on behalf so that she could
enjoy her life. As for Isabelle, who could benefit from the
affection which her mother had for her. So, here the
crucial variables are affection and social support.

11. Is There a critical Age for First-Language Learning?
The ideal experimental situation for studying the problem of a
Critical Age for first language learning has not yet presented.
Even though Isabell and Hellen’s success in learning language
match with Lennerberg’s (1967) theory of brain maturation
(they learnt language at an early age), but when we study the
cases of Victor, Genie, and Chelsea to make a case for Critical
Age is surely not warranted because there are too many
unknown factors and the data are not clear.

12. Thanks!
Any questions?
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