Lenneberg's critical period hypothesis
- Born September 19, 1921, Düsseldorf, Germany
- Died May 31, 1975
- Linguist and Neurologist
- He believed that children only had a certain about of time to acquire a language and after a certain age the ability to lean language decreases or disappears
- “Lenneberg's critical period hypothesis states that there are maturational constraints on the time a first language can be acquired”
Genie
- “Genie the wild child” grown up in severe isolation with virtually no human contact.
- In Los Angeles November 4th 1970 Genie’s case was discovered by social workers
- She was undeveloped physically and emotionally and she would only communicate like an infant and unable to use sentences or words
- Could hardly walk, she spat, sniffed and clawed
- Her case was to be used as a way to study the development of human language and behaviour
- Genie’s case challenges Lenneberg’s theory
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