Genie is a unique person; she was neglected and abused by her parents, and never taught how to speak. Genie was taken under the wings of numerous linguists, eventually learning new words each week. Studying Genie was an important way to gain further insight into the processes controlling language acquisition skills and linguistic development. Extensive observation of their new-found human subject enabled them to publish many works testing theories any hypotheses identifying critical periods during which humans learn to understand and use language.
If this situation were to happen again, I would suggest the linguists to prepare to study and work along with the "subject" for a longer period of time so funding doesn't run out. Also, since the subject would be from an abandoned household, being left by her favorite people that she has bonded with would be again traumatizing. The most important thing I would incorporate would to NEVER give the child back to the parent that caused this horrible condition and type of life. It is indeed no life for a child to live, with health issues along with not being able to communicate. As the "subject" learns more words and grows up, after learning how to speak for about 20 years or so, I would then try to get more information about her past. The child obviously needs a person or two to bond with in order to progress further and be excited to retain information. Hopefully this does not happen to any child, but with unstable parents as bad as Genie had, it is a sad occurrence.
I'm pretty sure the researchers didn't want to give Genie back to her mother either, though the courts forced them to. I'm 90% sure the laws are different now, though not 100%, since you still hear about some custody cases gone horribly wrong.
ReplyDeleteWhat about your definition of what language is?