Historically, it is known that on many occasions, newborn babies were subjected to experiments, often in isolation. During these experiments, these babies were prevented from communicating with the outside world in any language, and such attempts were often referred to as “language deprivation experiments.” The main goal is to discover the source of language and understand the deeper layers of human nature.
Closing babies in a certain area and completely isolating them from the outside world has been a subject that people have wondered about throughout history. This curiositymother tongueIt has resulted in countless unethical experiments conducted in order to investigate the origins of what we call “the truth” and even to understand more deeply the fundamentals of being human. Although these experiments were mainly carried out with humanity’s desire to understand the source of language, they served a deeper purpose: trying to understand the essence of man.
However, isolating babies to achieve this type of understanding is considered highly unethical. For this reason, cultural historians such as Roger Shattuck call such experiments “Forbidden Experiments” was given the name.
Language Experiment Conducted by Egyptian Pharaoh Psamtik I
Ruler of Egypt between 664-610 BC Pharaoh Psamtik I (Psammatikos) His experiment is an important step towards understanding language learning mechanisms. Also recorded in history It is one of the first linguistic studies. Pharaoh Psamtik I had an idea similar to the myth that a child growing up on his own would learn Arabic. Therefore, he had a curiosity to understand why and how every baby born in his country began to speak Egyptian.
According to I. Psamtik, God was also Egyptian and for this reason every child sent into the world knew the Egyptian language by default. Pharaoh decided to conduct an experiment to prove this idea. In Psamtik I’s experiment, one of the first linguistic studies in history, he would prevent a newborn baby from communicating with anyone, and then if the child grew up and spoke Egyptian, he would support his own point of view. That is, it would show that God was indeed Egyptian.
According to Herodotus; Around 600 BC, Egyptian Pharaoh Psamtik I took two newborn babies from their families and handed them over to a shepherd, strictly forbidding the shepherd to talk to these babies. These babies have developed a language among themselves and the first word they say in this new language is “becos” dead. This word does not exist in the language of the Egyptians and is in the language spoken by the Phrygians who lived in Anatolia many years ago. “bread” It has been understood that it is similar to the word. This led the Egyptians of that period to believe that the origin of themselves and their language was Phrygian.
However, some historians and scientists think that the word the baby used was a completely random word, such as “agu”. Another possibility is that a word like “bekos” might have come from the mouth of one of the servants who brought food to the baby, and the child might have said “bekos” just because he heard that word.
Other Language Deprivation Experiments Conducted
In the 13th century, approximately 1800 years after the Pharaoh’s experiment Roman emperor II. Frederik A similar method was followed in another experiment conducted by . The babies were separated from their families and raised with minimal human interaction and were never spoken to. Although their basic needs are met, it is a matter of curiosity which language the babies will speak. According to predictions at that time, babies were thought to speak either Hebrew, Greek, Latin or Arabic; because these languages were the languages of holy books or ancient texts. Therefore, II. Frederik’s main goal is to Hz. Adam and Hz. Eve’s was to discover what language he spoke.
As a result of these experiments, the historian named Salimbene did not provide information about what language the babies spoke, but described in detail the cruelty of those who carried out the experiments. Although these experiments aim to understand the foundations of human nature, as well as to find the source of human language, the methods used have been ethically questioned and criticized.
Children and Deaf Children Growing Up Isolated for Different Reasons Apart from Experiments
In later periods, children who grew up in isolation for different reasons other than the experiments were also identified. These children grow up alone in nature, away from people. “wild children” They are known as. Because they have no contact with humans, they generally cannot develop language skills like the ones we use. For example, in Ukraine Oksana A girl named can communicate with dogs because she grew up with them.
This indicates the existence of other children being raised not only by dogs but also by animals such as bears, sheep, cows, goats and even ostriches. These children naturally begin to develop behavior similar to the animals they grow into adulthood. However, when they meet with people, they learn many things, but often their language skills do not develop at all.
Another congenital means of isolation is deafness. Surrounded by people who don’t know sign language deaf childrenThey try to develop their own language. For example, Nicaraguan children were isolated from birth because there was no contact until 1980. After the revolution in Nicaragua, they brought them together at the country’s first special school for the hearing impaired and tried to teach them sign language so they could express themselves better. However, these efforts did not fully achieve their goals because the children were no longer babies. They could not teach these children sign language.
However, an interesting development has occurred: Children have developed a new sign language using hand movements and facial expressions among themselves. This situation attracted the attention of linguists who wanted to understand the language and they tried to decipher this new language. According to experts, the language developed by children has a very complex and rich structure.
As a result of all these experiments, it turns out that sound is not actually needed for communication. Communication is the common heritage of humanity and an inevitable consequence of being human. Today, it may not be fully understood how language emerged and how it evolved, but one thing is certain: Speech is the most basic way of sharing the information we have.
