The Case of Genie the Feral Child
What does “feral“ mean ?
Genie Wiley
“The feral child”
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Genie (born 1957) is the pseudonym of an American feral
child who was a victim of severe abuse, neglect, and social
isolation. Her circumstances are prominently recorded in
the annals of linguistics and abnormal child
psychology.When she was approximately 20 months old,
her father began keeping her in a locked room. During this
period, he almost always strapped her into a child's toilet
or bound her in a crib with her arms and legs immobilized,
forbade anyone from interacting with her, provided her
with almost no stimulation of any kind, and left her
severely malnourished.The extent of her isolation
prevented her from being exposed to any signi icant
amount of speech, and she did not acquire language
during her childhood as a result. Her abuse came to the
attention of Los Angeles child welfare authorities in
November 1970, when she was 13 years and 7 months old.
A little Background about
her parents .
Growing up , her father had no attachment to
his parents. He mostly grew up in orphanages .
His father was killed in a lightning strike and his
mother was busy running a brothel. This is one
of the roots from where his lack of parental
attachment to his kids stems from.
Her mom , after marriage was often
relentlessly beaten up by her father for the
smallest things possible. However her mother
was visually impaired which made her largely
dependant on her father .
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Psychologists, linguists, and other scientists initially focused
a great deal of attention on Genie's case. Upon determining
that Genie had not yet learned language, linguists saw Genie
as providing an opportunity to gain further insight into the
processes controlling language acquisition skills and to test
theories and hypotheses identifying critical periods during
which humans learn to understand and use language.
Throughout the time scientists studied Genie, she made
substantial advances in her overall mental and psychological
development. Within months, she developed exceptional
nonverbal communication skills and gradually learned some
basic social skills, but even by the end of their case study, she
still exhibited many behavioural traits characteristic of an
unsocialized person. She also continued to learn and use
new language skills throughout the time they tested her, but
ultimately remained unable to fully acquire a irst language.
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The critical period hypothesis states
that the irst few years of life is the
crucial time in which an individual
can acquire a irst language if
presented with adequate stimuli, and
that irst-language acquisition relies
on neuroplasticity