Sophia Camaya
June 1, 2016
ENG 370
WWU
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Introduction
Feral children are children who have had no contact with other human beings. We see examples of feral children in the media, but there have been cases of feral children. Language is a major factor for a child’s development when it comes to communicating with people such as other children or their parents. We often wonder how children gain the ability to understand and communicate using language. Many people think that language acquisition is either innate, imitated, reinforced, actively constructed, connected, or developed through social interaction. But really, it depends on the child. The main question is how are feral children impacted by language? However, when we think of feral children, we see in two cases where there is an impact on language and communication through the social interaction and reinforcement theories of language acquisition. Therefore, language acquisition through the types of social interaction and reinforcement both have a huge impact on feral children from when they are found after living in isolation up through their time of rehabilitation.
Language Acquisition Theories
The acquisition of language is an important aspect in order a child’s brain and speech to develop. With language, children are able to grow mentally in order to communicate with those around them. There are a few types of theories on how language is acquired- innate, imitated, reinforced, actively constructed, connected, or developed through social interaction. The Innateness Theory considers that we were born with the ability to acquire language, but genetically (Language Files). As of birth, we are apparently born with the ability to acquire language as it is spoken around us. I don't believe in the theory that language is innate. However, when in utero, we do hear what our mothers and fathers say but we can't speak it until a certain age. Somewhere in the genes, there is a possibility that the child will be able to communicate with its parents. For example, Mowgli learned how to communicate with the wolves and like Tarzan did with the gorillas.
The Imitation Theory is where children basically imitate what they hear by reproducing it (Language Files). If a child hears their mother say “momma”, then the child will repeat what they heard. It is valid because a lot of children will imitate what they hear around them, sometimes not knowing if it is correct or not. I do believe in this theory, but just not for helping feral children assimilate back into humanity. The Reinforcement Theory is based on the fact that if a child says what the parent wants, they will be instantly praised or rewarded (Language Files) This kind of goes along the lines of the Imitation Theory because the parents want the child to say a word, so when the child says the word the parent thus praises the child with claps and a happy tone of the voice. I stand with the reinforcement theory because, in order for a child to know what to say or do, they need to be reinforced with some sort of praise or reward.
Next, we have the Active Construction of Grammar Theory, Social Interaction Theory and the Connectionist Theories. Active Construction is what it says, the child invents their own grammar rules (Language Files). It is kind of similar to Connectionist Theory, however, the Connectionist Theory is based on the creation of neural connections in the brain (Language Files). The similarity is that they are both based on creation. Lastly, there is Social Interaction, where children can gain language skills just through social interaction (Language Files). The Social Interaction Theory is relative to the Imitation Theory because it is all in social interactions. But the social interaction theory is the most effective when it comes to aiding the feral children. For example, Kristoff did socialize with the men who harvested ice, so he learned skills as well as heard language around him.
What is a “Feral Child”?
A feral child is called so when they have been secluded or isolated from other people and human interaction. These children would be those who have grown up with little or no human contact, and they are therefore unaware of human social behavior or language (Damn Interesting). But also, some are thought to have been raised by animals, so Romulus and Remus (the founders of Rome) could be considered feral children because they were raised by a wolf. There have been many documented accounts of feral children around the world, some just locked away by their parents and some similar to Romulus and Remus that lived among wild animals. But there is a hint of feral children reared by animals in our media.
We could say that Mowgli from the Jungle Book was a feral child because he was raised by a pack of wolves and then was in the car of a bear and jaguar, Tarzan raised by gorillas on an island, or that Kristoff was somewhat a feral child because he was raised by trolls and had a reindeer as a best friend, but he did have contact with people in the beginning of Frozen when he was around the men harvesting the ice.
Overall, the term feral was used to describe a child who has had no contact with those of the human world.
Overall, the term feral was used to describe a child who has had no contact with those of the human world.
Feral Children: Genie Wiley and Victor
We are now going to discuss two cases of feral children, the cases of Victor of Aveyron and Genie Wiley. Genie is an example of a feral child who was isolated from human contact. Victor was feral because he lived in the forest and was most likely raised around animals, but also he had scars on his body and acted animalistic.
Genie was discovered when she was 13, tied to a potty chair (Simply Psychology). She appeared to be a 13-year-old girl, but her mental age was one between 14-20 months (Simply Psychology). She only knew the potty chair, so she was not potty trained, which meant she wore a diaper most of her life. Those 12 years of not being spoken to or socialized with, Genie did not learn how to talk at all. Physically, she was affected because of all those years sitting in the potty chair, so she had a stooped body stature (TLC Documentary - Genie Wiley). But, her posture did improve from a more stooped posture to one where she looked like a bunny rabbit because she carried her hands in from of her chest as you can see in the gif below. Her inability to talk is based on the fact that she was not socialized with anybody, so the theory of social interaction fits in the best with this case because when she was found, the doctors would socialize with her to help her communicate.
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When Genie was removed from her home, she was placed in the care of doctors who socialized with her thus enabling her to learn speech. However, there is proof that the theories of imitation and reinforcement were seen in her therapy sessions. For example, when Genie is sitting with her doctor going over cards with pictures, she is positively reinforced when she says what is on the card (TLC Documentary - Genie Wiley). In addition to learning words, Genie also was able to communicate through sign language (Simply Psychology). But also she was able to communicate only with adults she was familiar with (Simply Psychology). But, the one major piece of evidence is that a feral child’s ability to acquire languages really depends on their learning capacity before their isolation (Language Acquisition). Genie is classified more as a feral child because of the 12-13 years of isolation, not that she was in the care of animals or lived in the woods.
After being removed from her home and rehabilitated to a certain extent, Genie was able to say things about her life in the potty chair. She would say words like "potty chair" and "mama" referring to her past home and family. She remembered it as a traumatic experience. This proves that the social interaction theory helped her learn words and communicate with the doctors about her life as a child, which was astonishing to know that she remembered everything that happened. Language, especially through social interaction and reinforcement helped Genie open up to the world, although not fully, but just enough so that she could communicate with others. When she was learning words, she would be positively reinforced for getting it right, which benefited her because it helped her open up more towards the doctors for example about her past living situation with her biological parents.
Today, Genie lives anonymously in an assisted living facility in Southern California (Damn Interesting).
For a feral child that lived in the woods, had no interaction with humans or the outside world, and acted like a wild animal, Victor is more so a feral child on all the scales. Victor has numerous scars on his body, which is evidence that he defended himself all the while he lived in the woods among wild animals (Language Acquisition). In the beginning, his only methods of communications were a series of grunts, moans, and other sounds (Language Acquisition). He was then sent to a school specifically for deaf/mute children, but they did not take him into their care. Victor then went to the care of a man called Itard (Language Acquisition). Victor then learned to communicate in writing when spoken to. Itard then concluded that Victor was incapable of imitating another which concludes that the Imitation Theory is invalid for this case (Language Acquisition). Although he did learn to recognize some words, but he never learned to speak (Edublox). He learned phrases, written phrases and some sign language that would aid him to go buy milk from the shop down the street. However, he did live until he was in his 40s with the housekeeper after Itard died.
Conclusion
Therefore, language acquisition through types of social interaction and reinforcement both have a huge impact on children from when they are found after living in isolation up through their time of rehabilitation. Feral children are classified as such because they have not had any contact with other people, which hindered them the ability to communicate with others. With the evidence of Genie and Victor, we see that these two theories of language acquisition, they are the ones that are valid and effective for children like them. Even when a child who is feral is past the stage of learning a language as an infant, there is still hope for them to learn ways in order to communicate with those around through sign language and written words. We truly see that our interaction with a baby or child is very important because they learn language through the very interactions. After reading about Victor and Genie, I came to realize that a feral child could be called a feral child as long as there has been proof that they have lived in isolation from other humans; such as living in the woods or being locked away in a room.
Overall, the social interaction and reinforcement theories played huge roles in the lives of these two children because they impacted their abilities to acquire language even after they had lived in isolation.
Sources
ApolloEight Genesis. “TLC Documentary - Genie Wiley” Online Video Clip. YouTube. Youtube, January 18, 2013. Web. June 5, 2016.
Bjerg, Gregg. “Feral Children.” Damn Interesting. Damn Interesting, May 15, 2016. Web. June 7, 2016.
Eudoblox. “Victor: The Story of a Feral Child.” Eudoblox. Eudoblox, 2016. Web. June 6, 2016.
knoton. "Isolates and Feral Children." Slide Serve. Slide Serve, September 14, 2014. Web/PowerPoint Presentation. June 8, 2016.
Gif. "Footage of feral child Genie Wiley." Make A Gif. Make a Gif, November 2015. Web. June 9, 2016.
McLeod, Saul. “Privation - Failure to Form an Attachment.” Simply Psychology. Simply Psychology, 2008. Web. June 6, 2016.
Mihalicek, V., Wilson, C. Language Files. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University, 2011. Print.
Singleton, D. M., Ryan, Lisa. Language Acquisition: The Age Factor (2nd Edition). Dublin, Ireland: Trinity College, 2004. Book.
