critical period hypothesis

The Forbidden Experiment: Feral Children

From an Egyptian pharaoh to a Holy Roman Emperor, history is dotted with cruel attempts to discover humanity's "natural" language…

6 days ago

When a Community Has No Language

Before established sign languages, how did deaf children in isolation communicate? This post explores "home sign," the remarkable gestural systems…

5 months ago

The Hidden Logic of Baby Babble

Is a baby's babbling just adorable, random noise? Far from it. Linguists have discovered that babbling is a highly structured…

5 months ago

The Girl Who Couldn’t Speak: Genie and the Tragic Limits of the Critical Period for Language

The tragic case of "Genie," a feral child discovered in 1970 after a decade of silent isolation, offers a harrowing…

5 months ago

Why Do People Have Accents?

An accent refers to a particular way of pronouncing a language, strongly associated with geographical region, social class, or ethnic…

2 years ago

The Age Factor in Language Learning: Myth or Reality?

Learning a new language can be an exhilarating yet challenging task. Across different societies, a common perception exists that language…

2 years ago

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