[EDLING:284] 'Wild Children' and the critical period

[Francis M. Hult]

Daily Yomiuri Online

The Practical Linguist / 'Wild Children' and the critical period

The winter of January 1800 was cold in Aveyron, France, especially if you lived 
day and night in the forest, eating what food you could find. On Jan. 9, out of 
the forest came a boy, naked except for the tatters of a shirt, wary of people, 
and above all hungry. Unable to speak human language, he appeared to be about 
12 years old. He moved like a wild animal, ate like a wolf, and was not toilet-
trained. 

Had he been raised by wolves? He couldn't say, and no one else knew. Cultural 
historian Roger Shattuck (1923-2005), in his 1980 book The Forbidden 
Experiment: The Story of the Wild Boy of Aveyron, described him thus: "He was 
unkempt, naked, totally isolated from all human society, unresponsive to any 
communication. Scars covered his body. He lacked fire, tools, weapons, and what 
we consider 'adequate' shelter. Yet every account agrees that he had survived 
several winters, as many as five or six, of this crude existence. He had 
adapted to his surroundings, even though he had in all probability been left in 
the woods to die, or had been given up for dead after getting lost." 

Full story:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/language/20070706TDY14002.htm