IF WE EXPERIMENTED WITH
HUMANS THE WAY WE EXPERIMENT
WITH MICE, WE'D KNOW THE ANSWER.
BUT WE DON'T SO WHAT YOU HAVE IS
NATURAL EXPERIMENTS, LIKE GENIE
AND SUSAN CURTISS,
IN PARTICULAR,
DID REMARKABLE WORK WITH GENIE.
AND IT APPEARED SHE WAS
DEPRIVED OF-APPARENTLY DEPRIVED
OF LANGUAGE AND MOST
HUMAN CONTACT
IN THE EARLY PART OF HER LIFE.
NOT FROM THE VERY
BEGINNING, INCIDENTALLY,
FORGOTTEN EXACTLY WHAT MONTHS,
BUT MOST OF HER EARLY
INFANCY AND THEN ON.
AND AT FIRST, IT SEEMED THAT-I
THINK SHE WAS FOUND AT AGE 12
OR SO AND, OF COURSE, TAKEN OUT
OF THESE HIDEOUS CIRCUMSTANCES
AND SUSAN AND COUPLE OF
OTHERS WORKED WITH HER TO TRY
TO BRING HER BACK TO SOMETHING
LIKE NORMAL EXISTENCE.
IT TURNED OUT THAT SHE
HAD INCREDIBLE CAPACITIES,
VERY REMARKABLE CREATIVE
CAPACITY.
AND IT LOOKED FOR A WHILE
AS THOUGH SHE WAS ACQUIRING
SOMETHING LIKE LANGUAGE,
BUT IT BECAME PRETTY CLEAR
THAT IT WAS JUST HER
GENERAL CLEVERNESS,
WHICH WAS MAKING IT-SORT
OF FOOLING THE THERAPISTS
AND EXPERIMENTERS INTO
THINKING THAT SHE HAD LANGUAGE.
WHEN THEY LOOKED CLOSELY,
SHE REALLY DIDN'T.
HOWEVER, IT'S HARD TO
KNOW WHAT TO MAKE OF THIS.
I MEAN, ANYONE WHO GREW UP
IN HER CIRCUMSTANCES WOULD BE
SUCH A PSYCHOLOGICAL WRECK
THAT YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT OTHER
FACTORS MIGHT BE INTERFERING
WITH AN ACQUISITION OF LANGUAGE.
I MEAN, NORMAL INTERCHANGE,
MOTHER-NEONATE INTERCHANGE
OR SOCIAL INTERCHANGE
IS JUST CRITICAL
FOR EVERY ASPECT OF DEVELOPMENT.
SAY, NOT BECAUSE IT
GIVES THE INFORMATION
BUT THE DEVELOPMENT-THAT TELLS
THE DEVELOPMENT HOW TO PROCEED
BUT BECAUSE IT'S JUST NECESSARY
FOR THESE THINGS TO HAPPEN.
SO LIKE DEPTH PERCEPTION IN
SAY SHEEP CAN BE AFFECTED
BY MOTHER-NEONATE CONTACT.
IT'S NOT THAT THE MOTHER TEACHES
THE LAMB HOW TO SEE DEPTH,
IT'S JUST THAT THE SYSTEMS DON'T
OPERATE UNLESS THERE ARE CERTAIN
KINDS OF INTER-SYMPATHETIC
INTERACTION TAKING PLACE.
AND THAT CONTINUES, YOU KNOW,
THROUGHOUT THE CHILD'S LIFE.
IT'S WHY CHILDREN IN ORPHANAGES,
EVEN IF THEY'RE GIVEN PLENTY
OF FOOD, AND SO ON STILL
JUST DON'T GROW PROPERLY,
EVEN PHYSICALLY.
AND WE JUST DON'T KNOW HOW
MANY OF THESE DIFFERENT KINDS
OF FACTORS ENTER-THE
EFFECT SAY EMPATHY HAS.
BUT IT IS KNOWN BY NOW, JUST
FROM NATURAL CASES-THE KIND
THAT SUSAN CURTISS AND OTHERS
HAVE STUDIED-THAT THERE ARE
CASES WHERE LANGUAGE HAS
DEVELOPED, NORMAL LANGUAGE,
WITHOUT ANY LINGUISTIC
INPUT AT ALL.
THE MOST DRAMATIC CASE
KNOWN WAS DISCOVERED
BY SUSAN GOLDIN-MEADOW, A
STUDENT OF LILA GLEITMAN'S.
ABOUT A FEW YEARS AGO, THEY
FOUND SOME COUSINS WHO WERE DEAF
AND WHO-PLAYED TOGETHER.
THEIR PARENTS HAD
BEEN INDOCTRINATED
INTO WHAT'S CALLED THE ORALIST
TRADITION, THAT YOU HAVE
TO TEACH DEAF CHILDREN
HOW TO LIP-READ.
SO THE PARENTS DIDN'T
TEACH THEM SIGN LANGUAGE.
DIDN'T EVEN USE GESTURES AS
MUCH AS THEY COULD HELP IT.
AND THE CHILDREN WERE KIND
OF OFF ON THEIR OWN PLAYING
AND THEY INVENTED A
LANGUAGE, WHICH TURNED OUT,
WHEN THEY WERE FOUND
AT AGE THREE AND FOUR,
TO HAVE ESSENTIALLY THE
PROPERTIES OF A LANGUAGE
THAT A CHILD THAT AGE WOULD
HAVE IN A NORMAL ENVIRONMENT.
BUT THEY HAD NO LINGUISTIC
INPUT AND THERE ARE A COUPLE
OF OTHER CASES LIKE THAT.
I MEAN, THERE ARE
CASES OF COMMUNITIES
OF NON-HEARING PEOPLE-DEAF
PEOPLE WHO'VE DEVELOPED
SIGN LANGUAGE.
THERE'S A RECENT CASE
IN NICARAGUA THAT WAS
WHERE SIGN LANGUAGE WAS
DISCOVERED IN A COMMUNITY
THAT HAD BEEN ESSENTIALLY
ISOLATED
AND HAD NEVER BEEN
TAUGHT ANY SIGN LANGUAGE.
THEY JUST DEVELOPED IT.
AND IT SEEMS-BY NOW, A LOT OF
INVESTIGATION OF IT JUST SEEMS
LIKE ANOTHER LANGUAGE.
SWAHILI LANGUAGE OR WHATEVER.
SO IT IS APPARENTLY POSSIBLE
FOR GROUPS OF PEOPLE AS GROUPS
AS SMALL AS THREE CHILDREN-IT'S
THE SMALLEST CASE-TO CREATE A
LANGUAGE WITH NO INPUT.
ON THE OTHER HAND,
IF A CHILD GREW
UP WITHOUT LANGUAGE ALTOGETHER,
THERE'S JUST SO MANY FACTORS
THAT WE CAN'T KNOW
WHAT HAPPENED.
I MEAN, THERE ARE
REMARKABLE-WELL,
THE HELEN KELLER CASE IS
A KIND OF A STRIKING CASE.
SHE DEVELOPED ENORMOUS
FLUENCY, BECAME A GREAT WRITER.
BUT SHE HAD TO-SHE WAS
BOTH BLIND AND DEAF.
SHE LEARNED BY TOUCH.
HOWEVER, SHE DID
HAVE-IN EARLY INFANCY,
ALL SENSES WERE FUNCTIONING,
SO THERE WAS SOME LANGUAGE INPUT
BEFORE IT COULD SHOW ITSELF.
I MEAN, WE KNOW NOW THAT
FROM, SEVERAL DAYS OLD,
THE CHILD'S ALREADY
EXHIBITING REACTIONS THAT SHOW
THAT IT HAS SOME
UNDERSTANDING OF, SAY,
THE MOTHER'S LANGUAGE
IS DISTINCT FROM OTHERS.
AND MAY EVEN BE-PROBABLY
IT'S PRENATAL.
SO A LOT IS GOING ON IN THE
EARLY STAGES BEFORE ANYTHING'S
BEING MANIFESTED AND IT'S NOT
REALLY UNDERSTOOD JUST HOW MUCH
AFFECT THAT'S HAVING.
BY NOW, THERE ARE SOME FAIRLY
CAREFUL EXPERIMENTATION.
ACTUALLY, THIS PROJECT AT
M.I.T THAT MY WIFE WORKED
ON THAT STUDIES LANGUAGE
AMONG THE BLIND DEAF.
THERE'S A TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING
THEY CALL TADOMA-WHERE PEOPLE
WHO ARE BLIND AND DEAF
ARE TAUGHT LANGUAGE
BY PLACING YOUR HAND ON
THE FACE OF THE SPEAKER.
SO MAYBE, FORGET EXACTLY HOW IT
WORKS, BUT I THINK THE PALM IS
ON THE VOCAL CORDS OR SOMETHING;
FINGERS ARE PICKING UP SOME
OF THE LOCAL GESTURES.
AND AMAZINGLY, THEY CAN
ACQUIRE A REMARKABLE COMPETENCE
IN THE LANGUAGE JUST FROM THAT.
AND SPEAK-THEY CAN SPEAK, TOO.
I MEAN, IT HAS TO BE
CONSTANTLY MONITORED
BECAUSE THEY CAN'T HEAR THEIR
OWN SPEECH, YOU KIND OF LOSE IT
AFTER A WHILE AND YOU HAVE TO
BE REINFORCED AND, YOU KNOW,
CONTROLLED AND MONITORED.
BUT I MEAN PEOPLE
LIKE THIS LIVE ALONE.
YOU KNOW, TRAVEL AND
HAVE JOBS AND SO ON
AND THEY KNOW A TREMENDOUS
AMOUNT.
HOWEVER, EVERY SINGLE ONE
OF THEM-EVERY CASE THAT'S
KNOWN WAS SOMETHING LIKE, SAY,
MENINGITIS, WHICH STRUCK I
THINK-THE EARLIEST CASE KNOWN IS
ABOUT 18 MONTHS.
SO FOR THE FIRST PERIOD OF LIFE,
MAYBE EVEN BEFORE 18 MONTHS,
IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY, THEY
HAD NORMAL SENSORY APPARATUS.
NOW THE 18-MONTH-OLD CHILD
ISN'T EXHIBITING MUCH IN THE WAY
OF LANGUAGE BUT THAT
DOESN'T MEAN IT DOESN'T KNOW
ABOUT LANGUAGE.
IT MAY KNOW A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT
AND EXPERIMENTATION SHOWS
THAT CHILDREN KNOW WAY MORE
THAN THEY'RE EXHIBITING.
AND IF IT'S TOO EARLY,
SAY, SIX MONTHS,
APPARENTLY THERE'S NEVER
BEEN ANY KIND OF RECOVERY.
SO SOMETHING'S GOING ON IN THOSE
EARLY MONTHS THAT'S MAKING IT
POSSIBLE FOR LANGUAGE TO EXHIBIT
ITS GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT.
THOUGH THERE MAY BE
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
THAT IT'S NOT EXHIBITING.
