¡Descarga Applied Linguistics UCM Dra. Emma Dafouz Milne 1 2.4. The Critical Period Hypothesis y más Apuntes en PDF de Idioma Inglés solo en Docsity! Applied Linguistics UCM Dra. Emma Dafouz Milne 1 2.4. The Critical Period Hypothesis in L1 Acquisition: Genie’s study Excerpts from chapter 4 in Saville-Troike, M. (2006) Introducing Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 68-70 and 82-84. Notions that particular locations in the brain may be specialized for language functions date back at least to the XIX Century. Paul Pierre Broca (1861, 1865) observed that an area in the left frontal lobe (Broca’s area) appeared to be responsible for the ability to speak and noted that an injury to the left side of the brain was much more likely to result in language loss than an injury to the right side. Figure 1. Language areas in the human brain Wernicke (1874) further identified a nearby area which is adjacent to the part of the cortex that processes audio input (Wernick’s area) as also being central to language processing. Thus for the vast majority of individuals, language is represented primarily in the left half (or hemisphere) of the brain. Subsequent research has shown that many more areas of the brain are involved in language activity than was thought earlier: language activity is not localized but core linguistic processes are typically housed in the left hemisphere. Such specialization of the two halves of the brain is known as lateralization and is present to some extent even in infancy. There is increased specialization as the brain matures and has less plasticity, in other words, when one area of the brain becomes less able to assume the functions of another if it is damaged. Lenneberg (1967) proposed that children had only a limited number of years during which they could acquire the L1 without flaws if they suffered brain damage to the language areas. Brain plasticity in childhood would allow other areas of the brain to take over the language functions of the damaged areas, but beyond a certain age, normal L1 acquisition would not be possible. This is known as the Critical Period Hypothesis. Applied Linguistics UCM Dra. Emma Dafouz Milne 2 One famous documented case which provides rare evidence for this hypothesis is that of Genie, an abused girl who was kept isolated from all language input and interaction until she was 13 years old. In spite of years of intensive efforts at remediation, Genie never developed linguistic skills that were comparable to those speakers who began acquisition in early childhood (Curtis 1977). References: Curtiss, S (1977). Genie: a psycholinguistic study of a modern-day "wild child". Boston: Academic Press. Crystal, D. (1997) The Cambridge encyclopedia of language. Cambridge: CUP. Lenneberg, E. (1967) Biological foundations of language. New-York: Wiley. Video session Genie Here is a list of vocabulary that will appear in the video on Genie. Find out what these words mean so that you can follow the story adequately. diapers solitary confinement spools of thread severe isolation brain waves bickering potty chair sleep spindles foster parent nurturing environment retarded brain damage vocalize surrogate parent functionally retarded lawsuit therapist mentally deficient
