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PERSPECTIVES IN ie NEUROLINGUISTICS anp PSYCHOLINGUISTICS 4 ; ; Harry A, Whitaker, Series Editor Wy SUSAN CURTISS DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY of California THE UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER } University % Los Angeles, California ROCHESTER, NEW YORK iy %

HAIGANOOSH WHITAKER and Harry A. WHITAKER (Eds.). é . Studies in Neurolinguistics, Volumes 1 and 2; Volume 3. In preparation iq NorMawn J. Lass (Ed.). Contemporary Issues in Experimental Phonetics JASON W. Brown. : Mind, Brain, and Consciousness: TheNeuropsychology if of Cognition of S. J. SEGALOwiITz and F. A. GRuBER (Eds.). Language Development and tq Neurological Theory J SUSAN Curtiss. Genie: A Psycholinguistic Study of a Modern-Day “Wild xy Child” . . ' In preparation : I. M. SCHLESINGER and Lita Namie (Eds.). Sign Language of the Deaf: i. * ACADEMIC PRESS New York San Francisco London 1977 Psychological, Linguistic, and Sociological Perspectives a

JOHN . MACNAMARA (Ed.). ; Language Learning and Thought A Subsidiary of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers https://pdfify.app/trial | ;

CopyriGut © 1977, sy ACADEMIC Press, INC. % To Genie ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 4 NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED OR = TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, ELECTRONIC 4 OR MECHANICAL, INCLUDING PHOTOCOPY, RECORDING, OR ANY & INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM, WITHOUT = PERMISSION IN WRITING FROM THE PUBLISHER, "

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United Kingdom Edition published by ACADEMIC INC. S PRESS, (LONDON) LTD. ig 24/28 Oval Road, London NW1 oe

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data i Curtiss, Susan $ Genie : a psycholinguistic study of a modern-day “wild child.” ¥

(Perspectives in neurolinguistics and psycholinguistics ‘s series) : Originally presented as the author’s thesis, University + of Los California, Angeles, 1976, iy Bibliography: Pp. Ae 1. studies. 2. Children—Language~Case Psycho- o . studies, 3. disorders in linguistics~Case Speech ae children—Case studies, 4, Languages—Physiological aspects—Case studies. I, Title. . , PIt8.C8 1976 401 9 76-55968 | ISBN 0-12-196350—0

, PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA :

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Family Background and #Ph ship ° 3 Early Childhood

S To understand this case history, one must understand Genie’s family a background. Genie’s mother said that when she married, her life ended. She had ES a stormy marriage, during which she was frequently beaten by her husband. He # repeatedly threatened to kill her, and she lived in fear, reinforced by the recurrent 2 beatings over the years. a Despite the fact that her husband disliked children and was adamant about Mi not having any, after 5 years of marriage, Genie’s mother became pregnant. e Very late into the pregnancy, the father-to-be viciously beat and tried to kill his Oe wife by strangling her. Nonetheless, their first daughter was born, evidently if healthy and thriving. As babies often do, this infant cried considerably. Exas- Pa perated and irritated by her crying, the father had his new daughter put into the Be garage so that he would not have to listen to her. At the age of 24 months this x4 child died of pneumonia and overexposure. oS The following year, a second child was born. A boy, this infant had an RH wf blood type incompatibility. He died when he was 2 days old, allegedly from if choking on his own mucous. 2a Three years later, another son was born. Delivered by Caesarian section 4 (as were the first two infants) with an RH blood incompatibility as well, he was { nonetheless an apparently healthy baby. Because the father had very rigid ideas 3 about obedience and discipline, the mother was under great pressure to keep f her new son from “acting up” or crying. Perhaps not surprisingly, then, this : young boy began to manifest early developmental problems. He was reportedly i late to walk, had eating problems, was late to talk, and was still not toilet-trained | at the age of three. At that point his paternal grandmother took the boy into her | https://pdfify.app/trial: and Early Childhood 5 4 Genie: A Psycholinguistic Study 4 ; Family Background .

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: . E : = the street. became was hit by a truck and killed while crossing Although own home. Under her care, he thrived, rapidly toilet-trained,and,finally, = grandmother in her late seventies, Genie’s father considered her death in much better developmental condition, was returned to his parents. #t. his mother had been a close with her was delivered and although he had not had very relationship Three years later Genie was born.Afull-term baby, she, too, * untimely, and embittered when the truck driver by Caesarian section, and suffered from an RH blood incompatibility for ay when she was alive, he become outraged was to move was of all charges. His response his which she received an exchange transfusion 1 day after birth. Her birth weight 2 : who had hit her acquitted dead mother’s home and to isolate them from the outside (7 pounds, 14 ounces) was in the 50th percentile on the lowa Growth Chart (ie., ae family into his completely normal). Genie was first taken to a pediatrician at the age of 3 4 i world. a of the father, this move was the beginning of months. He noticed a congenital dislocation of the hip for which he prescribed a Living in fear imprisonment but for Genie it was the beginning of her Frejka pillow splint to hold both legs in abduction. At this visit, Genie’s weight a and seclusion for the whole family; was confined to the was normal for her neglect, and isolation. Genie increasingly was 12 pounds, 24 ounces, her height 23 inches—again, age ‘- extreme abuse, was gE two It is her mother that, at first, Genie and sex. At 4 months she was noted to have “good head control.” At4$ months smaller of bedrooms. reported by to sit on the back or play in a playpen Genie began wearing the Frejka splint. At the age of 5 months, when she was 3 occasionally allowed to go outside, steps the to and When these backyard “excursions,” however, brought in for a routine follow-up examination, she was noted be alert a in the backyard. discussing even these were often times of neglect and confinement. engaged in hand-to-mouth movements. On a return examination at 6 months, mother revealed that was a “bad that left in her playpen to play, Genie she 14 pounds, 7} ounces, and was 253 inches tall. At that visit, the oy She reports that Genie girl,” weighed ~ One wonders how long Genie, a tiny doctor asked that she be returned again in a month. Genie was not brought a would take it apart with her fingernails. - left in that how long she must have been back for 5 months, however, until she was 11 months old. At that time she me toddler, must have been playpen, weighed only 17 pounds—below the 16th percentile for her age and sex; thus, 23 neglected or forgotten, to resort to this action. to an at that house Genie was confined to a small bedroom, harnessed within the first year of life, her weight had fallen drastically. Nonetheless, In the a sewed the himself; unclad except for 3 visit, Genie could sit alone, was described as alert, and had normal primary as infant’s potty seat. Genie’s father harness, was Her was left to sit on that chair. Unable to move anything except dentition for her age. Soon after this visit, the Frejka splint removed. the harness, Genie ; 3 hour after physician recommended physiotherapy following removal of the splint, but oe her fingers and hands, feet and toes, Genie was left to sit, tied-up, month after after ; Genie’s father refused to permit it. a hour, often into the night, day after day, month, year year. was from her harness only Genie’s life her first and Ce At when Genie was not forgotten, she removed : We do not know many other details of during year Ee night, thatshedidn’tcoo into another sleeping bag which her father a half. Her mother reports that Genie was a noncuddly baby, #4 to be placed restraining garment—a to her from even Junior foods. Genie to hold Genie’s arms stationary (allegedly prevent or babble very much, that she resisted any solid food, 2 had fashioned Therein constrained, Genie was reportedly, then, was manifesting similar developmental problems and lags to i taking it off). In effect, it was a straight jacket. sides and a wire mesh cover overhead. those her brother had shown—reluctance to chew, resistance to most foods, =*% put into an infant’s crib with wire mesh was left to somehow endure the hours lateness in walking. We do not know the cause of these early problems, but we 3 Caged by night, harnessed by day, Genie do know that Genie’s father disliked his daughter and did not allow his wife to ee and years of her life. there was no TV or radio in the house. devote too much time or attention to her. Thus, her life may not have provided There was little for her to listen to; next to a bedroom and bath- the nurturing that aids development. ae Genie’s bedroom was in the back of the house a the entire time the family At 14 months, Genie developed an acute illness (pneumonitis) and was WE room. The adjacent bedroom was left unoccupied “mother’s” room. Not wishing to “defile” taken to a different pediatrician. Feverish, she was listless and unresponsive; oy lived in the house. It was (the father’s) even had stated that she showed signs of possible retardation but because it, Genie’s father permitted no one to enter it, not to dust. The father this physician Ye __ so little conversation there was between family of the fever, it was difficult to assess her development. The doctor's statement— Ne an intolerance for noise, what a volume. for moments that Genie showed signs of possible retardation—proved to have disastrous er members in the rest of the house was kept at low Except of the Genie did not hear outside her was . her father language consequences for Genie. Genie’s father, who already intensely jealous of anger, when swore, any of aside attention the mother paid to Genie, used this statement as justification for the mi door, and thus received practically no auditory stimulation any kind, were two windows in her and one of them subsequent isolation and abuse Genie suffered. 4 from bathroom noises. There room, an Her was inches. She therefore, have occasionally heard At the age of 20 months, Genie’s life worsened tragically. paternal = kept open several may,

https://pdfify.app/trial 6 Genie: A Psycholinguistic Study Z Family Background and Early Childhood 7

. overhead or some other traffic or airplane environmental noises; but set in the Ss her mouth. Should Genie choke and spit out some of her food, she would back of the house, Genie would not have heard much noise from the street. “a have her face rubbed in it. Her mother reports that Genie was fed three times Hungry and forgotten, Genie would sometimes to attract attention attempt ¥ a day, but from the mother’s recalling how through the years Genie would noise. by making Angered, her father would often beat her for doing so. In fact, ae attempt to attract attention (and risk being beaten for it), it is probable that there was a of wood left in the corner of room large piece Genie’s which her a she was often left to go hungry. father used to beat her solely whenever she made any sound. Genie learned to & This was Genie’s life—isolated, often forgotten, frequently abused (many keep silent and to all but ; suppress vocalization; sometimes, desperate for & details of horrible abuse are omitted here), physically restrained, starved for attention or food, Genie would use her or some body object to make noise. Her & sensory stimulation. Thus minimally exposed to humanity, and most of that father would not tolerate this either, and he often beat her with his wooden = the most hideous of human behavior, Genie grew into a pitiful creature. stick on these occasions as well. these and on During times, all other occasions a Genie’s father was convinced that Genie would die. He was positive that that her father dealt with he never to her. Genie, spoke Instead, he acted like a = she would not live past the age of twelve. He was so convinced of this that he wild He made dog. barking sounds, he growled at her, he let his nails grow long & promised his wife that if the child did live beyond twelve, the mother could seek and scratched her, he bared his teeth at and if he her; wished to merely threaten 3 help for Genie. But age twelve came and went; Genie survived, but the father her with his he stood outside the door and made his noises— presence, dog-like Re : reneged on his promise. The mother, too blind to even dial the phone and to warn her that he was there and that if she in was persisted whatever she os forbidden under threat of death to contact her own parents (who lived in the doing, he would come in and beat her. That terrible noise, the sound of her 2 area), felt helpless to do anything. father outside her door or standing growling barking or both, was almost the = Finally, when Genie was 134-years-old, Genie’s mother, after a violent sound only Genie heard during those years she was imprisoned in her room. s argument with her husband in which she threatened to leave unless he called At first, Genie’s mother did manage to spend a few moments with Genie * her parents, succeeded in getting her husband to telephone her mother. Later each day. But as she was fast becoming blind, and finding it harder and harder | that day Genie’s mother took Genie and left her home and her husband. to even minimally care for Genie, Genie’s brother increasingly became the z They escaped to the grandmother’s home, where she and Genie stayed for caretaker. The father the brother to imitate his own principal taught dog-like ee three more weeks. During the third week, Genie’s mother was advised to apply behavior, so that Genie’s brother did not speak to her either. In the fashion of ah for aid to the blind. Taking Genie with her, she inadvertently went to the family his father, her brother only barked and growled at her. Fe aids building, where an eligibility worker, upon seeing Genie, sensed that Just as there was little to listen there was not much for Genie to touch to, cs something was terribly wrong. The worker alerted her supervisor immediately, or look at. The of furniture in her room were the crib and the only pieces potty Ps and the two of them questioned the mother. What they saw and heard caused seat. There was no on the floor, no on the walls. There were two carpet pictures Bs them to call the police. The police took Genie into custody; charges were windows, but were covered for a few inches at the out they up except top of & brought against the parents. On the day of the trial the father killed himself.

. which Genie could see the from one and the side ofa house from sky neighboring a He left a suicide note stating, “The world will never understand.” the other. There was one bare a wall of dim, ceiling light bulb, closets, and ak Genie was admitted into the hospital for extreme malnutrition. She had another wall with the bedroom door. The room was a dirty salmon color. ee been discovered, at last. Occasionally, two plastic raincoats, one clear and one yellow, hung outside the a closet in the room, and once in a while Genie was allowed to “play” with them. 3 In was addition, Genie sometimes given “partly edited” copies of the TV log, ay -- with pictures that her father considered too suggestive removed (like women a3 advertising swimming pools, etc.). She was also given an occasional empty a cottage cheese container, empty thread spools, and the like. These were Genie’s mo toys; and together with the floor, her harness, and her body, they were her i primary sources of visual and tactile stimulation. Genie’s diet was equally limited. She was given baby foods, cereals, an oc- 4 casional soft-boiled egg. Under pressure from the father to keep contact with “ Genie to a minimum, she was fed hurriedly, usually by having food stuffed into ¥

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+ November 1970—January 1971

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# Genie was pitiful. Hardly ever having worn clothing, she did not react to B temperature, heat or cold.’ Never having eaten solid food, Genie did not know | how to chew, and had great difficulty in swallowing. Having been strapped Be down and left sitting on a potty chair, she could not stand erect, could not em] straighten her arms or legs, could not run, hop, jump, or climb; in fact, she could e only walk with difficulty, shuffling her feet, swaying from side to side. Hardly , 2 ever having seen more than a space of 10 feet in front of her (the distance from we her potty chair to the door), she had become nearsighted exactly to that distance. ae Having been beaten for making noise, she had learned to suppress almost all ae vocalization save a whimper. Suffering from malnutrition, she weighed only ‘s 59 pounds and stood only 54 inches tall. She was incontinent of feces and urine. af: Her hair was sparse and stringy. She salivated copiously, spitting onto anything oe at hand. Genie was unsocialized, primitive, hardly human. 3 Surprisingly, however, Genie was alert and curious. She maintained good a eye contact and avidly explored her new surroundings. She was intensely eager “es for human contact and attention. In the face of her hunger for contact with her and new world, her almost total silence had an eerie quality. Except for a high- i pitched whimpering and a few words she is reported to have imitated when she

, a was first admitted to the hospital, she was a silent child who did not vocalize iM in any way, who did not even sob when she cried. Her silence was complete i even in the face of frenzied emotion. Sometimes, frightened and frustrated by ad

’ ad Singh and Zingg (1942) reported that the “wolf girls” did not react to changes in temperature “y and : seemed oblivious to heat or cold. The wild boy of Aveyron also displayed this imperviousness 3 to temperature.

: 9 https://pdfify.app/trial 10 Genie: A Psycholinguistic Study 5 ; November 1970—January 1971 11

' both her former life new and her surroundings, Genie would erupt and have a - be The careful observations made by Dr. K (Genie’s primary therapist while raging tantrum, flailing about, scratching, spitting, blowing her nose, and oe * she was at the hospital) in his notes were very revealing. Although his notes her face and hair with her own frantically rubbing mucous, all the time trying Sb. were based on daily visits with Genie, there was reference to language only to or otherwise inflict on herself—all in . gouge pain silence. Unable to vocalize, & once in November and six times in December of 1970. These notes reflect, Genie would use her objects and parts of body to make noise and help express S first of all, then, the scarcity of linguistic responses that Genie exhibited in her a * frenzy: chair scratching against the floor, her fingers scratching against a a those months. More importantly, his notes reveal that Genie understood little balloon, furniture or falling, objects thrown slammed against other objects, her ae more than a few single words and negative command intonation. His notes feet were shuffling. These Genie’s noises during her sobless silent tantrum. At “ demonstrate that Genie zeroed in on single words and ignored the sentences long last, physically exhausted, her rage would subside, and Genie would “2§ - in which they occurred. If someone used a word she understood, she res- return to her undemonstrative self. silently e : ponded to it in a uniform fashion, regardless of its grammatical or semantic There was no real language during her times either. for a few placid Except S ‘ context. Genie never words, spoke. She wasabizarre, unsocialized, silent human being. % Dr. K’s notes also reveal that at times Genie imitated words that were . But what lay beneath the surface? For us, the primary question was what, if = spoken to her, thereby showing that she attended to speech directed to her and abilities any, language lay unrevealed in her eerie silence. Could she understand was motivated to interact and behave linguistically. Did she language? know how to speak but not do so because she had con- : The videotapes further supported our conclusions. (See Part II, Chapter 8, ditioned herself not to speak aloud? If so, the task ahead of her was surely qs Section 8.1 for a detailed look at these data.) From over 30 hours of tape, the a difficult but one that one, therapy and recovery might achieve. If she had a zB evidence is very strong that Genie comprehended several individual words passive knowledge of language, it would mean that she would have only to (namely, “rattle,” “bunny,” “red,” “blue,” “green,” and “brown”) and a few learn to use in performance what she already knew. Was Genie, instead, a aes names (including “mother”), and, in addition, was able to extract the information pubescent adolescent over 134-years-old who did not understand or speak? If “ NEG and WARNING from negative commands, and possibly the information that was the then she was case, faced with the task of learning her first language a QUESTION from yes/no question intonation. Moreover, it may be that some as an adolescent, long past the time when children ordinarily learn language, a words were used spontaneously, but it is unclear because of Genie’s poor the time when the possibly past brain can do so. (See Part III, 11.1 for further ‘s articulation. There is no evidence, however, that Genie had any additional discussion of this question.) knowledge of English. On the contrary, there is convincing evidence that Genie It was several months after her admission into the hospital before careful : could not a sentence of English on the basis of its aS process linguistic content“ linguistic observation, documentation, and investigation were begun. Thus, in g alone, but rather that she depended critically on gestures and other nonlinguistic order to determine that state of Genie’s linguistic knowledge at the point when os cues to successfully make any sense of speech directed to her. She readily re- she was first discovered, we had to find out all we could from those who had had oe sponded to gestures alone, yet failed to respond to speech without accompanying contact with her and from any and all records that were made regarding Genie x gestures or nonlinguistic cues. What is more, her failure to respond often during that first period at the hospital. ve occurred at times when she was visibly tuned in to the speech around her and In tracing back we discovered that Genie understood a few words but had ‘h motivated sufficiently to attempt vocalizations of her own—both imitative not acquired language. Our evidence came froma variety of sources. Reports * and spontaneous. The observations from Dr. K parallel the 30 hours of video- from Genie’s mother conflicted. One version was that Genie had begun to speak - tape. words, but stopped shortly thereafter. In another version, she reported that Genie was faced with learning her first language when she was 13 years, Genie never spoke at all. We didn’t know which was true. a 7 months of age. Though it might be true, as her mother suggested, that Genie The hospital staff had the general impression that Genie could understand 4 had begun to acquire some vocabulary and speak some words as a baby, words a fair amount based on the fact that she maintained good eye contact and seemed which may even have remained with her through her years of isolation, it was to pay special attention to faces when people spoke to her. Yet all the staff a apparent that her linguistic environment had not providedsufficient stimulation admitted on interviewed questioning that they tended to point and demonstrate ; or exposure to primary linguistic data for true language to emerge. when to Genie, and thus a fair amount relating of gesturing most probably : It was also necessary to determine whether her environment had permitted accompanied their speech to her. They also stated that often Genie did not sufficient cognitive development for language acquisition. The evidence indi- respond to very common, simple commands or questions. : Cated that it had. https://pdfify.app/trial ™

| send ey ar Genie: A Psycholinguistic Study Bd ao 12 Se | the Vineland Social Maturity Scale ES A. | was | In November 1970 Genie given - scores of which were mental age ie and the Preschool Attainment Record, the | In January 1971 Genie was “se (MA) 1.05 years and MA 13 months, respectively. a achieving an MA of 4.9. = given the Leiter International Performance Scale, a 3 somewhere around the ee a Her performance on these tests placed her 2-year-old | Part III). Although we were to level with a wide scatter in subtest scores (see ae at all reliable measures of conclude that these first test performances were not ae Re her her was, | her cognitive abilities (underrepresenting abilities), performance “egies” as normal notwithstanding, sufficient to judge her to be at least as advanced BEE. Zwart, 1971). children are when they begin to acquire language (Sinclair-de aE of her for the language = ee 1971—June 1971 There were also linguistic indicators preparedness January to Her of single words implied an ability eRe: learning task ahead, comprehension - stream for familiar sounds and groups of sounds Bs. = scan and segment the speech of into and showed, in addition, an ability to parse the stream incoming speech Fe ee abilities were in some sense ae linguistic units, e.g., words. Moreover, her receptive most indicator of all that Genie Ee: paralleled by what was probably the persuasive and of words— \ te was ready for language—her imitation spontaneous production a . of in normal children. : : the same that marks the onset language aa phenomenon e to have a small vocabulary and But As of 1971, Genie appeared receptive Thus it that Genie was ready, cognitively linguistically. Be Pa January appeared Her receptive vocabulary included and 7 months old, too old to learn and an even smaller productive vocabulary. was it too late? Was this girl, already 13 years Be 4° language? - &, the following:

Common nouns Color adjectives a o Proper nouns Verbs Negatives red 3 Genie walk no door box blue A Mother go don’t jewelry green ae. Other names rattle ce bunny brown

we have no a other words she understood for which oe There may have been few have included some know- aE record. Her receptive knowledge of language may imperative intonation. ae ledge of intonation cues, most probably negative vocabulary included stopit and nomore. aaa. Her spontaneous productive utterances which were neither identifi- ae Again, there may have been a few other able nor documented.

| = Genie also manifested an interest in watching a speaker’s articulating -£z of mouth and imitating words, a hopeful sign for the emergence speech. i Genie’s abilities as of January : These appeared to be the extent of linguistic

. 3 extent these indications of language 5.3 1971. We could not tell to what meager 4 © already represented growth and development since Genie’s emergence. https://pdfify.app/trial Genie: A 1971 15 14 Psycholinguistic Study € : January 1971—June

The prognosis for recovery or significant growth in any and every area of 4 _ like a 12- or 13-year-old. Dr. Elkind, in May of 1971, described Genie as being her development was poor. But we didn’t know Genie, a child who would 38 in the stage of concrete operations, that is, in the 6- to 7-year-old range. This refuse to stand still, who refused to “listen” to the pessimistic prognoses re- “PF striking disparate scatter in ability noted as early as February of 1971, became further in garding her chances for growth and development. Despite our pessimism, Genie 32 more and more apparent as time went on, and will be discussed began to change and grow. - an Part III. In December she was moved to the hospital Rehabilitation Center because PF Genie’s growing knowledge and cognitive ability were evident in less formal it offered greater opportunities for socialization, a richer activity program, and situations as well as on tests. Her interest and performance in classroom better access to the outdoors than did the hospital ward. While there, Genie %§ activities involving numbers, letters, colors, puzzles, and fine motor skills began to change physically, to gain weight and to grow taller. Breast develop- 4B revealed in her a continuous curiosity about her new world and the capacity to ment signaled the onset of sexual maturation. Her walk became steadier, her * | learn and retain skills and concepts she was exposed to. An anecdotal example carriage more erect. After several months, she was able to take long walks % captured on videotape demonstratesalittle of the focus and knowledge she was through the area surrounding the Rehabilitation Center, usually tiring out her to reveal: In May, in the classroom with Genie and others, the teacher . beginning adult companions long before she was ready to return. iee. asked a child who had two balloons how many he had. He said, Three. Genie Slowly, but noticeably, during the months from January through June of 4 i. looked startled and gave him another balloon. 1971, Genie changed socially as well. She began to differentiate the adults :@§ This anecdote reveals more than Genie’s new awareness and understanding around her and to devlop closer dependent relationships with some of the ¥ of her environment. It reveals her new linguistic knowledge as well. And so it hospital staff. She began to differentiate affect and respond more appropriately. % was that as other aspects of Genie’s physical and psychological being began to Dr. K’s description (Kent, 1972), found in Appendix III, elucidates the quality gf - develop, language began to emerge. From the barest rudiments of a vocabulary, of change in Genie during this period. Physically, socially, and emotionally, “% she began—at first slowly, then toward May, much more rapidly—to learn the Genie was changing, growing, and developing, and beginning to realizeasmall #% names for almost everything around her. When she wanted to learn the word portion of her human potential. a for something, she would take the hand of someone nearby and place it on the Genie was developing cognitively and intellectually as well. Her visibly object or point it toward the object of her attention as best she could. Hungry increasing cognitive awareness and functioning were reflected in her test per- to learn the words for all the new items filling her senses, she would at times formances, even though testing Genie was extremely difficult and in many ways 4 point to the whole outdoors and become frustrated and angry when someone not comparable to testing a normal child (see Part II, Chapter 6). | failed to immediately identify the particular object she was focused on. The In January, Genie received a score of 4 years, 9 months on the Leiter % number of words she recognized grew sizably, probably totaling hundreds of International Performance Scale, a nonverbal test of cognitive abilities. In & words by June, 1971. February, an attempt was made to give her the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic &% As her receptive vocabulary grew, her productive vocabulary increased as Abilities (ITPA). Although most subsections were unscorable, she did score at © well. From stopit, which was nothing more than a ritualized expression of play, the level of 3 years, 1 month on the visual sequential memory subsection and at 3 Genie began to speak words spontaneously, purposefully, and appropriately. the level of 2 years, 6 months on the visual association subsection. In April, % She began to say Mama, spit, and back; by May 1971 she was spontaneously when the Leiter was repeated, she passed all items through the 4-year level, & saying numbers from one through five, color words, the verbs open, blow, and half at the 5-year level and half at the 6-year level. 4 others, and many, many nouns. If asked the name for something in her sur- Observations by psychologists who were called in as consultants showed 3; toundings, she could almost always provide it. that Genie was demonstrating increasing cognitive abilities. They also noteda 4% The examples of Genie's spontaneous use of vocabulary during this period surprising scatter in her abilities. Dr. Jeanne Block, in February of 1971, noted EE in the following set of examples are taken mostly from notes made by Dr. K, that while Genie failed some items on the Vineland Scale at the 2-year level & with a few additional samples from my own notes when I began working with (masticates food, uses names for familiar objects, talks in short sentences), she = Genie in June 1971. passed other items at the 8 to 9-year level (does routine tasks, cleans up, bathes ¥ also in of noted that in some her it self). Dr. Jack Block, February 1971, ways a 3/3/71 K: We have to put away now. behavior was that of a 2-year-old, in others like a 5-year-old, and in still others x G: Back.

https://pdfify.app/trial 16 Genie: A Psycholinguistic Study January 1971-June 1971 17

4/23/71 G: Put one said ~ “ back. (Probably word, when she wanted the teacher to 5/18/71 a. J (teacher at Rehabilitation Center): Leave the pan in the car. put back on the bulletin “ things board.) Genie did so. (There was a pan, a balloon, and a bracelet. She took the items about which was said with 6/2/71 G: store. nothing her.) balloon; ball; turtle; (Spoken upon seeing the articles.) “ eo, a b. Genie tried to pull a plastic bag off a roll in the store. G:: 6/3/71 Open. . (Said whenn sh 4 K to she wante open the cage and give the rabbit i J: Pull hard. ! some K’s hand carrots, pushing to the door of the cage as she spoke.) “2 G: Pull. (She pulled harder than before.) Genie said Pull when she found another roll. | 6/9/71 K: That's hot. ie spontaneously G: Burn. : 5/24/71 a. J: What's this? (referring to a frying pan). ; G: Pan. 6/14/71 G: Spit (grabbing K’s coat and spitting). b. J: them with the G: Car (seeing K’s car in the lot). : Scrub brush.

6/16/11 G: Dish; pan; basker. i ci: Flughthewien Genie did so. 6/22/71 G: Mirror; come; dog; box; bulb. s a d. Genie found some trays and couldn’t reach them. a. G: come. do want? 6/23/71 Doctor, ... (to K) = K: How many you b. G: Big (looking at a big turtle). = G: Three. Four. Five. Ten. c. G: made with her to indicate the Balloon; gone (referring to lemonade that was gone). “S (She appropriate gestures fingers get; back; bracelet; doll; dog. By numbers. There were pauses between each response.)

6/28/71 G: Fall. as she a. K Genie and said he’d come at 5:00. J Genie a : (Spoken walked to a railing, apparently concerned about = 5/25/71 phoned gave play the height.) z clock and told her to set it at 5:00. Genie did so. J then said, Four. the hands to 4:00. J Later. Genie said, Now. : ‘®. Genie changed said, . 6/30/71 G: Store. (Pulling on K to take her out of the workroom.) 2 b. K: What isthat? (referring to a chaise lounge in a store). G: Shower. to the G: Bed. (Spoken nurse after she had gotten her things together & to take a . shower.) & . . ¥ §/29/71 a. K: The zipper is broken, Genie. Genie went to the nurses’ station and got a safety pin from a drawer, . g It apparent from these without assistance. is examples that Genie was developing a sizable 4 productive b. There was a picture of a dog on a dogfood bowl. vocabulary, especially toward the end of this period (April, Ma 3 K: Is that a bird? and June). But is not language simply knowledge of words: it is, more A impor. No. tantly, knowledge of the G: Dog. grammar. More significant than the development of = vocabulary, the a. threw her on the roof. then, was emergence of comprehension of sentences spoken to 2 6/14/71 Genie glasses up her. In contrast with the first K: Where are months, several incidents reported in Dr. K’s notes f your glasses? or on videotape from this second m Genie took him outside and looked at the roof and laughed. documented period suggest such compre- as b. Genie seemed to make a distinction between a “pail” and a “bucket.” hension. Although before, many, probably most, documented situations ” Ki Whai's this? this period demonstrate a - during lack of comprehension, a few reported events os as G: Pail given below, point to the emergence of comprehension. ue os K: What's this? (Pointing to what he thought was another pail.) G: Bucket. 4/23/71 Her asked another child with 5 teacher two balloons how many he had. He said three. Genie looked startled and him another gave balloon. : These examples show that Genie was beginning to learn language. She was a. Genie took one more one at a and she was 5/4/7) necklace. K said, You can have two. Genie took beginning to comprehend than word time, beginning another one, to speak. Her production appeared to lag behind her comprehension, but me the b. bracelets. Genie “showed” them to him. (She exactly what and how much she understood we still did not know, as there was enn Sno them to give him.) no systematic investigation of her knowledgeof language until after this period. https://pdfify.app/trial . Genie: A Psycholinguistic Study a Genie had changed from the painfully small, thin, admitted to pitiful creature that was the hospital months before. £ She had grown taller, self-assured, more heavier, more ’ aware of herself, more Physically edgeable in the developed, more knowl- $8. of social-psychological aspects normal human life. But remained a severely disturbed Genie 2 and underdeveloped human j A potential yet being, her human untapped. And she was past fourteen. Time was not on her side. i \

$f June 1971—August 1971

4

a I first met Genie in June 1971. [ remember how small she was, so so 2 thin, so little, completely unlike a normal 14-year-old ae girl. I was apprehensive about meeting her, and so at first examined her froma Jf distance. Her dress was too for long her, and she was barefoot, both how somehow a stressing painfully small she was for her age. Her movements were BP: yet rather slow, syncopated than even. Her walk was stiff-legged and jerky, Even her ei stationary stance appeared uneven in the sense that though she was = still one knew standing instinctively that she was not a normal 4 I person. ventured closer. Her hair was mousy and thin; her teeth were g fanged, and jagged, or terribly discolored. And yet she was = pitiful and pretty. Considering all of the strange aspects of her it appearance, seems remarkable that she could a have seemed but pretty, she did. Her skin was 3 beautiful—soft, white, with a faint touch of on pink each cheek, almost as if an artist had painted each one of 4 them and carefully delicately. Her nose was 2 small and turned ever so beautifully shaped, . Up Slightly, finely drawn like that of a china doll. 3 of Most all, though, her beauty lay in her s eyes—big, gray, deep. The whole Story of her past, all of the neglect, abuse, pain, and misery, seemed to lie within. FS There was a softness about Genie, a softness in her in her expression, a softness é manner,a softness in the she t way looked at everything, and despite her stiffness and jerkiness, a softness in the way she carried herself 3 it andmoved. Perhaps was really timidity. Whatever the she reason, despite her peculiarity, : projected an appealing softness. : Such was her appearance. As I got to know her, I learned that a thing about her not every- was soft and appealing. Her behavior was quite another matter, 3 https://pdfify.app/trial 19 , 20 Genie: A Psycholinguistic Study 4 June 1971-August 1971 21

Genie had distasteful mannerisms and many her behavior was often discon- ready to walk on. All of this behavior, though charming and even endearing : a _ and | certing unpalatable. She salivated copiously, and spit out her saliva onto was a : in the abstract, quite embarrassing. anything near her—her her even body, clothing, (as I unfortunately learned “Sf Genie masturbated excessively, which proved to be the most serious rather a quickly) onto companion’s clothing or body. Since her body and 2 antisocial behavior problem of all. Despite admonishments, she continued to clothing were filled with she reeked of foul spit, a odor. 4 § masturbate as often as possible, anywhere and everywhere. We have no know- Her habits were also eating Never had EE. disturbing. having solid foods, she ledge of whether she had been sexually abused by her father or brother, but she did not know how to chew. When solid foods given Genie would typically stuff =r. preferred the company of men and when in their to get her mouth with food and companyusually tried wait—cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk storing them involved. Many of the items she coveted were objects with which to mas- nuts—until her saliva could break down the food. Often, when she gottiredof #% turbate, and she would attempt to do so, regardless of where she was. She was she would out the food in her waiting, spit mouth onto her plate, and then play ff drawn to chair backs, chair arms, counter edges, door knobs, door edges, table with it and the rest her of food with her fingers, circles of mush car car so in indoors and out- usually making 2 Do corners, handles, mirrors, and forth; essence, out of the food on her plate. was to masturbate. to & } doors she continually attempting Learning control these Genie had a habit of around walking during mealtime, stopping at other i desires has been terribly difficult for Genie, and now, 4 years later, it 1s still a children’s at places the table, sometimes attempting to take their portions of 3 problem.’ - foods she liked ice a especially (applesauce, milk, cream, etc.). She often walked x Despite all of these difficulties, going out with Genie was fascinating. To around with ; her mouth stuffed with and - food, during her journey around the = see her explore and hungrily take in the colors, textures, and sights of every- dining room she would sometimes it out onto the nearest spit plate. Perhaps, in = thing around her was a moving experience, but one of the most enriching aspects her bizarre unsocialized she was the other way, giving children an “offering” of being in public with Genie was to witness people’s reactions and responses of to food, make up for the (unwilling and of was unoffered) offering what she 2 to her. Many people were unkind or attempted to ignore her and move them- about to take from them. In her any case, “offering” was never welcome, and 2 selves away from her. But many others were remarkably patient and sensitive mealtime with Genie was usually not a pleasant event. P| to her. Genie had other personal habits that were not socially acceptable. She blew SE One remarkable individual was a man who worked behind the meat counter her nose onto anything or nothing, often a mess of her making clothing. At = at a Safeway store. Genie was fascinated by the meat section and used to spend times, when excited or she would urinate in agitated, inappropriate places— @ quite a long time there, touching and examining all of the packages. This man leaving her companion to deal with the results. But it was her lack of socializa- 3 evidently noticed her interest, and without asking any questions about her, tion that was most difficult to deal in with, especially public. Genie had a special ae one day slid open the window above the counter where she was standing, and fondness for certain made of certain things—anything plastic, foods, certain a held out a piece of meat—unwrapped—for her to touch, smell, and examine for articles of or accessories. If she clothing anyone encountered in the street or ina gs as long as she wished. In this silent fashion, over a period of months, he brought Store or other public place had she liked, she was something uncontrollably 2 out bones, fish, chickens, turkeys, and every kind of meat for her to study and drawn to him or her, and without rules of obeying any psychological distance Be experience. He never asked any questions; he never spoke a word to her. With- or social she would to the mores, go right up person and put her hands on the a out knowing anything about her, he simply accepted her on her own terms and desired item. It was bad when enough she went up to someone else’s oe to her without in not even a We were all | shopping gave asking anything return, greeting. cart to reach in to take but when the of something out; object attention was an Py sad when this man stopped working there. We never knew his name. We never article of and Genie would clothing, simply attach herself to the personwearing a thanked him. that clothing and refuse to let the situations were go, extremely trying, = The first month, when I saw Genie almost daily, I spent the time trying to Even when Genie did not attach herself in such an quite embarrassing get to know her and to establish a relationship with her that would help her manner, she still went right to stood in front Zz up strangers, directly of them, develop trust in me and enable me to work with her effectively. At that time she without accepted distance between and into their any them, peered faces with ¢ was still not testable, and was so bizarre in her behavior that had I attempted to her face directly in front of theirs, pointing (without looking) at whatever ; gain information formally from her, I would not have known how to interpret possession of theirs held her interest. Other times, she up " very simply walked Since the time of writing, Genie’s inappropriate masturbatory behavior has almost entirely to them and linked her arm or x through theirs put her arm around them and was | disappeared. https://pdfify.app/trial 22 . Genie: A Psycholinguistic Study a June 1971—August 1971 23 ca her performance. Thus, I time with her _ _ spent my simply joining her in 2 “small” and at one point “small turtle.” A little later, we saw a pile of different- , activities, F. taking her to visit places, with being her, and talking to her. Very often Dr. K was e sized balls. Genie pointed to a big one and said, Big. with and ; us, although J refrained from notes making when I was talking with $8 Dr. K noticed that Genie had to go to the bathroom. He said to her, Genie, I did take some notes when Dr. K or someone else was talking with her, at Maybe they have a bathroom. Genie repeated, Bathroom. The store did not have so that I would . have some record of her language each of visits. the next Bathroom. None during my one, and at storefront, Genie spontaneously said, of Most of the time Genie said 3 nothing. She rarely, almost never, in fact, said aE the stores had restrooms, so we returned to the Rehabilitation Center. anything in answer to a . except direct question. Most of the time she merely %& We walked into the parking lot, and when she spotted Dr. K’s car, Genie emitted squeaks and and more. 8° whimpers nothing But every now and thenshe spontaneously said, Car. did speak; she even initiated and I speech, found that as the days wore on I was =e. On June 16, 1971, we visited the homeof another therapist, Dr. R. Genie was glad I had brought and pen paper. 5 intrigued with houses. On walks, she would often go to the front door of a For example, on June when I at 14, 1971, arrived the RehabilitationCenter, 3 house, hoping that someone would open the door and let her inside. To this Genie had thrown the that had glasses just been prescribed for her upontothe 48: girl who had spent her life on only one side of her bedroom door, every door held roof of the When Dr. K he bP building. came, noticed that she was not wearing the . the promise of new discoveries, new sights, new smells, a new world. So, on glasses, so he asked, * that day,a visit to the R house was a great adventure for her. She eagerly explored s every room, running her fingers along the walls and furniture, intently examining K: Where are your glasses? & each thing she saw. . G took him outside . and looked at the roof and laughed. “Ss She was having such a good time, she didn’t want to interact with anyof us K: We'll have to get the ladder. eS and ignored our attempts to engage her or signal her that it was soon time G: Ladder [led]. 2 to leave. Finally, Dr. K got her attention and explained that it was time to go K: The glasses are up there. (Pointing to the roof) & and that she should put on her coat. A search for her coat followed; after a few G: Up. Up. Up. 3 minutes, Dr. K asked her, What are we looking for? Genie answered, Coat.

After the glasses-on-the-roof the three episode, of us went to a shoppingcenter, Before leaving, we all gathered in the kitchen. Genie was holding a deco- Genie seemed thrilled to leave Rehab and could hardly wait until we reached s rator pillow in her arms. Dr. K said, Tell Dr. R what that is. Genie turned to the shopping center. As we drove she along, pointed to every building we -% Dr. R and said, Pillow. There was a cat in the house and Dr. R asked Genie if passed en route and “asked” store? said the (She word with a quizzical look = she wanted to see it. No. No. Cat, Genie replied, shaking her head vehemently. on her face, but without a pitch change.) & As my visits with Genie at the Rehabilitation Center continued, I became We went to Woolworth’s and walked around the store together, Genie x familiar with some of the “rituals” used with her. She had learned to say certain curiously examining almost everything. There were two sections of the store | specific things “on cue.” For example, if she wanted something that she couldn't where Genie the most the aisle with - spent time, plastic containers and thesection ¥ reach, the ritual was: with live animals. We could hardly draw her away from the aisle ofplastics. < do want’5 She longingly fondled every item on the shelves—from wastebaskets to freezer g you . . x: What “a G: Getit. word to containers. While was (One her.) storage she so totally focused on the array before her, = Dr. K pointed out that Genie made a distinction between and buckets on pails } If she sat in a car waiting to go for a ride, the ritual was: - the basis of some classification which he had not yet figured out. As there were Es of G: Turnon. to plenty plastic pails before us, Dr. K said he’d demonstrate this to me. Pointing 2 (Oneword her.) to a pail, he asked Genie it was. She replied, Pail. pointing to what what Then 2 Then the driver would start the engine. If Genie wanted a container, a door, or he assumed was another pail, he asked, What's this? Genie answered, Bucket. # the ritual was: window opened,, I couldn't see the difference; Dr. K. couldn’t see the difference. But Genie could. z We finally moved on to the animals. We talked to her about how different : X: What do you want? in size the different animals were, and Genie imitated the words “big” and é G: Open. &

https://pdfify.app/trial 24 - Genie: A Psycholinguistic Study __ a June 1971—August 1971 25 Later she would say open without prompting. { . ; . she was. to some de new ee wanted someone to come with her or come zis , gree, queen of her environment. But no institutional to see her, she would say, Come ie ‘ setting can offer the warmth of a real home; and so it was fortunate that cir- Many, if not all, of these rituals cumstances that led to Genie’s placement in a foster In late had been taught to her by the staffwith the a developed home. Tune 1971, Genie exposed to the to “what-do-you-say” method, but by the time I met her, the staff interacting with at aa Be isolated her no longer needed to use the the other The staff at Germanhospitalmeasiesrealizedandthathadit could “what-do-you-say” cues. I had to piece together from children ; the Prove the background for her s were Pe stereotypic utterances, noticing at first only that her gg etback to utterances at certain times were fromromth,the other chiBout’ developmentwas erefore"feltvs thatconfinedGenie andbe solates very predictable. Another predictable feature of = ren. It t imperative separate her speech at this point was her from the her in repetition of the last word of most utterances © by 8 a others placin foster ; addressed to her. Following this Genie was home. fo a ffoster war Examples occurring on June 22, 1971 are given below: 4 setting—a lovi decision, move oving household with two teenage boys (Mike and Sam), an adolescent girl = a and a a. K: You're (Ann), dog (Spot), cat. In this new Genie had her room angry " a home, own and G: Angry. an her own bathroom, a large backyard toplay in, and a foster family to provide b. K: Do you want to touch it? ae her with companionship, affection, care, guidance, help, and attention. When G: Touch. a she moved to this new home she was still largely unsocialized and underdevel- c. K: Should I do it? 1% oped, but whereas her previous settings had been largely unrestrictive, Genie G: Do it. . now found herself in an environment that placed demands and challenges before d. K: It’s stuck. \ iz her, and thus was to offer her new, directed opportunities for growth and G: Stuck. change. ag Her first opportunity came the day she moved in. e. K: I have to go home. Her new had a a G: Home. a family dog. Although only puppy, it was a golden retriever BE. and thus not a small We knew that was f. angry? dog. Genie afraid of dogs, but at that point no one knew about the father’s and so no one , dog-like behavior, knew K: areyeu, 3 the basis for a her fear. It was assumed that Genie’s fear was simply irrational and At The other times her speech was more signs that her fear was deep-rooted and were there, purposeful and clearly uncued, and her e pafounded. strong Pehavior oo Genie moved compe ly1, 197 C Crenie had oon orsocial situations a normally extremely slowly, almost in slowmotion, but at the bought for her. She was the dog sitting with some children, eating her gumdrops, when a to en. or one of a Somesoneim or onto pproaching,Genie them, little asked to see moved quickly darting sly to girl, Genie’s gumdrops. Genie quickly drew a room, urioUusty them toward herself and from the little : b anerb ee he “\Tandane ththeme aahThe tafamily insisted,ee away girl, slyly looked at her, and con- a tn tinued eating, a little more he‘ ‘0 “ ho as be quickly at this point. Dr. K, noticing the situation, Bi amen the nontneists* if tithe feweeed :ne asked the little girl could look at the Gonos ahee heee “aesire household.to escape andNealearnedae to gumdrops. Genie avoided his eyes and 4 Foe she Stay near the ays what is she learned to pretended didn’t hear or understand. 2 dog; more, pet her, feed her, and towalk her. While Genie lived at the Rehabilitation was later, when the foster mother Genie frozen Center, she had her own bed in ¥ it not unul a room a many months found that housed eight children, and her own P ed, that leaned abot Storage cupboard by her bed. 3 . eves Dr. or his chow K often took on aching a this shou hav. heppe her excursions in the area around the way id we Genie’s Center, and at the - theron as to ave appened, we learned ‘e's Rehabilitation Center, for the most she that about part, was permitted to do as she wished. a fat er andhis bizarre She had made known her mania s barking, growling,and pathological dog-likeand otherbehavior.Genieassociated her for plastic and had amassed a sizable collection a teeth-baring of ater and dog-like mannerismswith plastic items, including beads, and dogs terror of father to dogs. It was with this containers, wastebaskets. She had twenty- 3 die transferred her only three plastic wastebaskets long Genie had been her to stacked up by her bed, which Dr. K. had purchased 4 iscovery, after required confront her fear and learn to in for her when they went out her home, that we realized how a shopping. She had become attached to several of the ; great task had been set staff at the Rehabilitation here,sforewehertheand oowhat remarkable she Center, and having become a proficient manipulator 3 strength had shown. of these people, had her usually way with them. She was more than settled in,

| 4 Es] https://pdfify.app/trialq x:

oe . oe

ae g# September 1971—June 1975

Some of Genie’s behavior which I witnessed, and some of the moments I ;2B shared with her are presented here since they provide a more complete picture am of this remarkable girl. Chapters 2—4 dealt primarily with her behavior while a at the Rehabilitation Center. What follows covers incidents during her entire ei development up to this writing.

te y 5.1. DELAYED RESPONSES | = as As we began to learn more about Genie, we learned that we couldn’t always = judge by her initial response whether or not she had comprehended something. x Typically, there was a latency in her responses that went along with her general = slowness to move or react. sz If someone asked Genie to answer a question, to turn offa light, or to get ee something from the kitchen, and so forth, Genie would often act as if she had - not been spoken to. Then, 10 or 15 minutes later, she would obey the request. For ae example, on November 11, 1971, Genie and I had gone to the hospital to run a some errands. We sawafriend named Rita. I said to Genie, Tell Rita who you 3 went to see this morning. Genie said nothing. After about 5 to 10 minutes and much a conversation had intervened, Genie said grandma—the answer to my x question, * This pattern of delay in response to a stimulus remained part of Genie’s ga behavior for many years. It was not just true for language. For example, on https://pdfify.app/trialx 27 | Genie: A 1971—June 1975 28 Psycholinguistic Study & September 29

February 5, 1973, when I went to visit Genie, I rang the bell many, many times 3 her capabilities by her behavior. It was only through getting to know her, to _ before Genie bothered to answer the door. She finally came to the window = through being with her often and over a long period of time, that we were able see was at the door. I waved at her. When she opened to determine what she what she could and what she did do. peer out to who frantically x - knew, do, the door, she said, Curtiss waving, as if were the one exhibiting strange behavior. & | At the time ofthis writing she continues to delay in her response to questions ie she was 5.3. HAPLOLOGIES or requests as is shown in the conversation below. On May 14, 1975 : 5 to her foster mother, M, about a student car wash her school held: talking _ a ; oo, sf For almost 2 years Genie talked primarily in one-word utterances, even she was . of next . though capable producing longer strings. For the 2 years she G: At schoo! is ashing car. +e = talked primarily in two-word strings, even though by then her grammatical Whose car did wash? M: you am et had beyond the two-word stage. Genie became known G: People[’s] car. j capabilities developed far wash? as the who to get her and her thoughts M: How many cars did you a Great Abbreviator, managed way make G: Two car[s] ee and wishes known without hardly saying anything. At one point she began to M: Were they big cars or little cars? aa collapse words and create one-syllable utterances to represent strings that earlier G: Big car. & would have been several words in length. For example, on May 1, 1972, for the M: What were the colors of the cars? s sentence M come back, she produced [mek], and for the utterance, Monday gf Curtiss come, she produced [m ~k]. M and I told Genie that we were unable G walked out of the room. M andI talked for a few minutes. G then ap- & to talk to her in this way. Sensing that she had overstepped the bounds of proachedM and said, Blue and orange car—the answer to M’s question. & acceptability, she abandoned such extreme reductions.

ss 5.4. RITUALISTIC SPEECH BEHAVIOR 5.2. LAZY e . 2 As mentioned above, there were typical ritual exchanges between Genie It also became evident that Genie continually chose the path of least effort. = and the people around her. Genie’s dependence on ritual expressions continues moved and she allowed to She didn’t initiate action. She slowly listlessly; others = to this day. do for her that she was capable performing Although being things of herself. a Much of this ritualistic behavior was the result of routines taught to her. taught to and encouraged to chew, she continued to her saliva break down let the = Early rituals taught to her were Give me X, I want X, and Help me X, in her rather than chew it, and she to select food mouth, continued foodswhich a A typical exchange during mealtimes is illustrated by the following dialogue did not chewing as often as she could. When being taught to print, she require g which occurred on November 17, 1971. held her pencil loosely, making barely visible marks on the paper. She would & follow and in but she did not initiate directions, obey orders, cooperate activities, & M: G, say give me bread and butter. as little as and her use of Genie . activity. Similarly, in language, spoke possible & G: Give me bread. in the shortest utterances she could use and still manage to communicate. Thus, a M: And butter. almost all of the time she spoke in one-word utterances. We discovered that = G: Butter. she was capable of producing longer sentences only from observing instances 4 Genie asked for soup by saying, “Soup.” when she failed to communicate with one word and had to elaborate and use 4 M: Say, Give me soup. even rarer when she two or three more language, or from those moments put 7 G: Give me. such words together without special prompting or encouragement. From - M: Give me soup. in her singular instances we were able to observe that Genie was developing i G: Give me soup. ability to use expressive language. s was of Each She thus presented a misleading picture; she capable producing : instance of “Give me” was accompanied with the same two-handed longer and more complex strings than those she generally used. She masked z gesture, first pointing outward with both hands, then pointing to herself.

https://pdfify.app/trial 30 Genie: A Psycholinguistic Study 1971—June 1975 3i 4 September

Later rituals included May I have X. Instead of Give me X, Genie learned to ZL There were attempts to teach her other rituals, for example, to ask specific "use this stereotypic phrase, as shown in the following examples: nap questions. This attempt failed. Genie could not memorize a well-formed WH- & question. She would respond to What do you say ?demands with ungrammatical, that included words, but she was unable to come MayI have circle. a bizarre phrases WH-question the May I have box. a up with a phrase she had been trained to say. For example, instead of saying May I have graham cracker. & requested Where are the graham crackers? she would say I where is graham May I have material. as cracker, or I where is graham cracker on top shelf. In addition, under pressure MayI have rug. ¥ to use WH-question words, she came out with sentences such as:

She learned to say this phrase more readily and more frequently than earlier x Where is tomorrow Mrs. L? rituals, although using the correct ritual did not always get her what she wanted. Where is stop spitting? Where is I ten For example, on November 21, 1973, Genie and I were in the kitchen eating if. May have pennies? When is stop spitting ? cupcakes. The cupcakes were ona plastic tray, and Genie wanted the tray ‘= because tt was made of She asked I have | (probably plastic). me, May tray. ae . imitate or even replied, You have to ask M. Her foster mother was in the other room. Genie went we This illustrates that Genie, like normal children, was unable to with her into the other room to ask her for the tray. By the time she got there she had if retain in memory, syntactic structures which were not in keeping decided to ask for the paper cupcake wrapper instead. Ask M. May I have paper. = grammatical development. were made to teach her functional to her deal M, tired of her requests for trash, changed the subject. Would you like to have Bs Attempts also phrases help attended in some milk with your cupcake ? Genie answered, Genie mad. Genie mad. Genie mad. iS with real-life situations. For example, at a special school Genie 1973, her and her. Genie discovered some power with this ritual phrase.- Starting in the Se one of her classmates (P) was evidently pinching every day hurting to the child to make that child summer of 1973, those who worked with her began to pay her for her work in a We attempted to teach her something to say stop pennies, dimes, and quarters. For setting the table she received ten pennies. sa pinching her. For example, on October 23, 1973: It was during this period that Genie was also being taught to count, so as often ie as possible she was paid in pennies which she was required to count before they ap Genie talked about P’s pinching her arm at school. We went through a mini- became hers. In addition to being paid for performing, Genie was learning to a sociodrama to aid her in dealing with the real situation when it arose in school. save money to buy she wanted, toy plastic and plastic her items cars boats, a C: What do you say whenPpinches you? containers of all wastebaskets, that sorts, plastic jewelry, anything plastic caught E G: Go P. way,, her fancy at the stores she shopped in. Because of this, she soon learned the ee and let anyone escape without paying her. For _— Genie wasn’t able to use this phrase when the real situation con- le on netDecember Unfortunately, ae 1973: ; ple, reward5, 1 . rr fronted her, and suffered many bruises on her arm asa result of all the pinching. % Two points here are worth noting. First, it is interesting that the people . . Late in the afternoon, close to I was playing the piano Genie. She was € dinner, for 2 around Genie, without systematically analyzing her use of language or deter- drawn the music and never moved away until I stopped. On uncontrollably to e mining what was absent from it, sensed her need to learn how to make requests that day, I realized the importance that money had assumed for her because even = . . . . . and ask questions tried to give hera for doing so. The only questions though I was in the midst of playing, Genie heard sounds from the kitchen 8 and method and Genie to this day have been of form first which indicated to her that someone else was going to set the table. Setting the ae requests has formulated the This is in striking contrast to the novel and spon- table was Genie’s chore. No one was going to cheat her out of those ten pennies. ye modeledfor her : obviously forms that are of her own Leaving me at the piano, something she had never done before, she marched a) taneous linguistic products grammatical system. into the kitchen saying, Set table. M set table. She pushed M out of the way and sy Second, these ritual uses of language are not language rituals usually referred finished setting the table herself. After she had finished, she said, May I have 2 to as such, the automatic phrases used in particular social situations, such as ten penny. v “Hello,” “How are you?,” “Thank you,” and “Gezundheit.” There have been 3

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1972 I have been un- like Curtiss, (her name for me) since from September, on, teach Genie these as well. These attempts have been largely (1) attempts to without Part at the door with, I like Curtiss on every visit, almost exception. and such social rituals are absent from Genie’s language. (See greeted , successful, such as (This use of “I like X” is similar to phatic greetings, “Hello.”) Section 11.5 for elaboration.) III, source of has created her Such ritual expressions are a major and frequent ungrammati- In addition to those rituals taught to her by others, Genie Part II, Section 9.11.1 for a she often uses a fixed cality in Genie’s speech. (See discussion.) own. When Genie wants to talk about something, phrase to mean:

5.5. “TUNING IN” TO LANGUAGE I'm ho talk about X. eonwant |communicate| . was to be As early as October of 1971, it became clear that Genie beginning to this she in numerous linguistic situations. That is, prior period In the early days, she used the word “hurt” in this way. responsive herself was addressed. appeared to ignore all language use around her unless she hurt. Cat hurt. Doctor , On October 13, 1971 I noted: Hospital hurt. Dog hurt. Hurt cat. Fireplace hurt. in Genie listened to three stories. It was the first time she seemed to be interested Elevator hurt. Snow hurt. facial as well as her and to comprehend what was being read. Her expressions Fish hurt. Ocean hurt. the gestures indicated appropriate emotional responses to story. refer to the From the context it is clear that the examples cited above did not are an long awareness of language used around her lexical meaning of the word “hurt.” More recently, and for extremely Other indications of her increased period in her development, she has used ‘(I) like’ in this way. shown by the following examples. I became friends with the foster As my visits to the foster home increased, : : . . ob . : Like old school. . one of Like ball. family, well as with Genie.Often, I would engage in conversationwith I like enough money. as even Like Nancy. the family. Usually during such times Genie would ignore us, sometimes Like I like two towel. she would to Lyn. leave the room; other times, if she wanted attention, attempt Ilike Like mirror. yell. or us from talking to each other by standing between us, plopping Like beach. I like excited. prevent she our herself down on one of our laps, thereby blocking our view, and hoped, Like Grandma. I like grab. she to keep the conversation going. Every now and then, though, would Like trip. I like doctor. ability us and actually listen to what was being said. Like rug. I like shape. surprise Like fish. I like bag. lot and lot animal while M was dis- Like floor. I like Mama Saturday. 12/27/71. During lunch, Genie said, food to the and Genie’s to Like dog. I like laughing funny. cussing their trip to the snow [a visit mountains} trip of the conversation. At one in the con- Like pinky. I like M fix teeth. the zoo. Genie wanted to be part point used the word in a sentence. Genie recognized the mor- Like hanger. I like grab J. versation, M “hardly” Then M about a had Like doll bend. I like hurt finger. pheme “hard” and said, Hard. began talking couple they I like animal have bad cold. visited that weekend. Genie listened and said, big house and tiny baby in reference I like hate school. to that visit. I like hate father. about the earwax and M 2/23/72. Genie had an earache. M and I were talking ear dissolve the wax. Genie told me that she had put medication in Genie’s to she was able to use the “T like” appropriately, (It should be noted that expression that she had was listening and at that point interjected, Five drop. M explained the “J like man (7/74).) | as in example, V[’s] in five of medicine. in Genie’s put drops This type of stereotypic communication became so predominant to M what sentences she After we returned home from our afternoon excursions, I talked that I can often predict with a great deal of accuracy 5/8/74. speech with me she will for a few minutes. I asked a question about a friend, Nadine’s, working is going to produce. For example, I know that when she greets say,

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Genie the next day at school. M answered, I dont know. Evidently Genie de piano for her. While I was playing, Genie began talking to herself and making ~ her for and over I asked her to tell me what she wanted M to answer yes to that question, because as soon as M answered I don't ae gesture “naughty” over again. know to me, Genie came between us and clearly said, Yes. eee. was saying, so she came over to me and said, Little bad boy, and then, Bad gun. Fe She continued repeating these phrases aloud to herself for several minutes while I her for It was first time I had As shown by these examples, Genie became more sensitive to the social e played along with gesture “naughty.” the ever seen or recall an to with language. She interaction of conversations and anxious to join in and be a part of the group. = her recapitulate event herself with herself, and she didn’t know it, but I was even more It was often amusing and touching to see what she would do to “join in.” For 3s aneseugmeeSclighted example, in early 1972, during a family dinner conversation about renting ® the word “tenant” was frequently used; at one point hearing property, upon == ; ; From that time on Genie spoken of her to us—not often and the word “tenant,” Genie joined in by saying ten and holding up ten fingers. has past usually not at she been able to use to At times her interruptions showed not only that she was listening to the se any length—butstill has language express thoughts and about a time in her life alone had experienced. conversation, but also that she was learning to use language in a creative way. 3 feelings she Through language, Genie has been able to details of her confinement previously For example, on September 26, 1973: #e tellus - unknown to us. For example, Genie said, Father hit arm. Big wood. Genie cry. It was from statements like these that we learned that Genie’s father used to M and I were discussing the family’s upcoming trip to Yosemite. Genie was 4 beat her with a wooden stick for to go along, and she was apprehensive about going. As she listened to us dis- as large making noise. At another time, Genie cussing the trip, she interjected, Little bit trip, expressing her wish that the trip = said, Not spit. Father. Hit face—spit. Thus we learned that Genie’s father used would be short. ae to wipe Genie’s face in her spit when she spit out food or saliva. These events 3 were corroborated by her mother. Another development in this area of paying attention to the conversations 2% As her language ability grew, her descriptions of past events increased in around her is shown by her ability to remember the import of a conversation: Bs ‘detail and richness. In contrast to Genie’s early statements given above, some of she has heard and to recount it later to someone not present when the conversa- ee her later descriptions of how her father beat her for making noise are: tion took place. is Father is angry. On May 20, 1975 Genie listened as neighbors recounted a story about “3% hitbigstick. Father \ Mh going camping with their new baby. The story was not directed to her, nor was big rauner Genie stick.it. cCry. she involved. But she listened, understood, and related it much later to D, her Be Father makemecre foster father, who was not present at the original story-telling. z Father is dead.

- Ona few occasions Genie has produced long passages of memories. See 3 Part Section 9.3.6 for 56. NEW USES FOR LANGUAGE ei I, examples. Bd In addition to using language to talk about her past, Genie began to use language to manipulate others—or at least to to. In January, 1972, Genie used language for the first time in reflectingabouta <@ try past event. § = 1/12/72. Genie wandered into [her foster sister] Ann’s room. I followed her and soon as Genie saw me she Ann D 1/5/72. Two weeks prior to this date Genie had had a disconcerting experience = as said, pencil. [her foster father] heard her and came into the room for there, to at the hospital. When we had walked down the hall, a little boy came up to us Be scolding Genie being explaining me. Ann had some pens that Genie was attracted to and that holding a toy gun and pretended to shoot us repeatedly. Genie was visibly that colored Genie 4 had into Ann’s room to them. D then to Genie frightened. Despite my requests and admonishments, the little boy persisted ae previously gone get explained that have Ann's her and Genie had hers. in his pretend shooting, and as he continued, Genie clung to me more and more. ay she could not pens—that Ann had pens Genie then said D errand. Genie was him to so that she could We walked away as quickly as we could, and we talked at some length about telling go away e do what she wanted. guns and pretending. I told Genie that the boy was a bad little boy for not + ' Little and stopping and for making us feel afraid... . She said, bad boy, Bad gun. ¥ Another such incident occurred on 1973. After we returned home from our afternoon excursions on 1/5/72, I played the * August 6,

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: When we got home, Genie wanted me to come downstairs with her to put on a x On the way to the hospital, I sang a song about going to the hospital. Genie fresh sanitary napkin. She said, Come here, Curtiss. That was one of the first Sete kept repeating hospital and at one point sang the word out quite loudly and times I heard Genie ask rather than grab hold of someone if she wanted some- ae . strongly. one to come with her. ah “ae On February 20, 1972, D had attempted to take some of the wax out of Genie was also learning to use language to lie, or embellish the truth: 4 : Genie’s ear. Genie screamed for the first time. On February 14, 1973:

Genie had a tantrum and had her face. M had been talking to her 3/13/74. M reported to me that Genie had come home from school earlier ap scratched

i came face. At school scratchJace. I asked Genie was not doing so. Ms. C told Genie towork, and that made Geniecry. e in, Genie immediately said, Scratch her, Why Genie imitated my and gesture (I my Genie had made up the part about crying to elicit sympathy from M. ay : ? intonation had shrugged shoul- ae as ders) and said, Why? It was the first time [ heard her imitate intonation so directly. . a teeny On March 5, 1975, when I asked her what she had in her pockets, she of a she was That lie. had 3 F Genie has never screamed since that day in February 1972. She had begun, answered, Materia0. Ie 1 ey she rocks "eher poonets ane an # 7 however, to show some pitch control during speech, although she still does not A, n eae edo,onvin, 9. 073%WhenhenGeseme atketalkedd aboutbows herner vealsexua January 2, t2, occurred’ wet to mark or semantic distinctions in sentences’ Part example 17 utilize pitch syntactic (see I],

: fantasies involving her school bus driver, Mr. B. a . 2 Section 7.3).

G: Mr. B hand. 4 : Mr. B have hand. ee 5.8. GESTURES Mr. B hand tickle vulva. fs tickle vulva. Finger ee . . og. : As noted is difficult for Genie. In the before Genie vulva. earlier, speech early days, aea tense up her body and take a breath, an M: Mr. B drives the bus, his hands are on the wheel. speaking, she would deep then produce and utterance. to remain silent much G: Mr. B on the bus, masturbate alone. @ extremely high-pitched breathy Choosing

ee . of the time, Genie often gestured instead of speaking. She invented her own a gestures and over time expanded her gesture vocabulary. Usually she simply a gesture, such as or but as she began speak- 5.7. SOUND PRODUCTION 4 produced single “angry” excited, Be ing in longer strings, she began using gestures in a new way:

m eak, her Q 2/12/73. Genie had been riding in the grocery cart like small children do, in bili Seeone tide sobstartedwhenoneshe cried,heSheremainedCOWdN Nerysing,imewhistle, OF imitate‘tcal abilities, didnt Et Be the front section of the cart. She kept saying to me, push cart, go ride cart Mama, never screamed, and was unable to environmental NOISEs.Moreover, she control a and give ride cart (pointing to herself, thus indicating herself as the indirect during speech. These difficulties undoubtedly stemmed from her having pitch e object—elaborating her string by gesture rather than word). learned to suppress phonation as a result of having been beaten for making a noise. There have been several developments in this area. On November 10, z On March 12, 1972 Genie requested a record which she called “Lady Song” the took 1971, following place: % to be played for her by saying, Listen lady song. “Listen” was not spoken; it * was gestured by pointing her hand to her ear. This is the first utterance I wit- I played nursery songs on the piano and sang them. I attempted to get Genie to ¥ nessed that combined a gesture and words in this way. with Genie and what could sing along me,and actually changedpitch produced - In February, 1974, making use of Genie’s natural feel for gesture, as a means be tones. She also danced, and her feet considered singing clapped, stamped 2 of expressing herself in a modality better suited to her than speech, Genie was to the music upon request. x

. ? a Genie now uses fairly normal active—declarative intonation, but still does not systematically On November 17, 1971: * mark yes/no questions by intonation in her speech.

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a were one tell the words in written . introduced to sign language. She was taught system somewhere between. Sometimes the sessions fun and could that Ameslan (American Sign Language) and Siglish (Signed English) and began... form really had meaning for her, as evidenced on December 1, 1972 when: combining speech and sign, mostly in the fashion of speaking sentences and -—{- in the sentence she had learned the for. From that knew signing whatever words sign We worked on equational sentences, using the names of people Genie point on Genie has used signs as she speaks, but she has also continued to use well plus adjectives that were part of her own spontaneous speech and which sentences like: Curtiss is Genie gestures of her own invention. i i carried a lot of affect for her. We made naughty, ze : is silly. We acted out the sentences as well as reading and constructing them. oe “Naughty” and “silly” both have gestures associated with them, so the exercise a Genie not made sentence she 5.9. WORKING WITH GENIE ¢ became dramatic game. only every correctly, ee went wild gesturing and carrying on a game of her own, even running from one room to the next so that she could gesture at D when he was involved in a with Working Genie has beenalittle bit of everything—interesting, trying, ~ {.. funny, unpredictable, rewarding, unpleasant, fun, problematic, and challenging. 4 . Sentence.

. with her fallen three . . . Basically my work has into categories: (1) language testing, = . Sometimes, however, was (and (2) neurolinguistic and other cognitive and perceptual testing, and (3) work with iG work sessions were discouraging.Genie still can be) very restless, and impossible work with. the written word. a completely uncooperative, to When was motivated, we great Testing her was often extremely problematic and difficult. Especially inthe Genie had and Were mn neces King Enere When Genie was not, work x austingly uniruitlul. together first year ofmy work with her, getting Genie to attend to the test and respond ina & Sessions hae been which are contingent on meaningful way was difficult. As time passed, however, both of us became more 2 some develop ments not col as as on Genie’s psychological growth, as in her ability tomoh vith successful at dealing with one another and J learned better how to work around ag swite The first to get her to pretend she was ani Oho f uewed her moods, to motivate her, and to get her to perform. At the time of writing, Bcd attempts Curtiss She would either not respond at or after a while, play .both heroi Genie is still unpredictable, and there are still times when my attempts to test her # totally. all, Sto fail. But to a great degree I can now plan what J will accomplish on a given day, a roth s on At easetiedLas herte i, vethe, , unnbleto get and be reasonably sure that what I plan will be done. Fe ; ; 27, 1973, after almost 2 years of trying, Genie surprised me and Work with the written word followed a much less smooth or direct course q On August readily switched roles: but this work was very interesting. (See Part II, Section 6.9 for a description of ; this and worked hard. now and Often Genie then, . Every . method.) cooperated 4 . We were working on prepositions. After our session, I tried to get Genie to Genie added her own touch to the sessions: 2 2 switch roles with me and tell me what to do. (We had been working with colored & boxes which I instructed her to juxtapose in various prepositional relationships.) 11/17/71. After each sentence that Genie made, I had her read it to me. Prior a I asked her to take turns with me—TI would tell her what to do, then she would to today, she just looked at the words and read them—very slowly. When I read a tell me what to do, etc. Genie astonished me by joining in the “game” without the sentences to her, J always put my index finger directly under the word. On a hesitation. this day Genie read each sentence “Curtiss-style,” imitating my pointing method. & G: Put in the She initiated this on her own, obviously imitating me, thinking this the correct z orange green. C: Put the box next to the white box. way to read. s yellow & G: Put blue box in the white box. In these sessions she showed the ability to construct her own sentences. # C i nase bom th‘the yellow box. = C: Put the orange box behind the white box. 12/16/71. We practiced making negative sentences like, Spot is a dog, Genie = G: Put green box in the blue box. is not a dog, Genie is pretty, Curtiss is not angry, and so forth. At one point I 5 C: Put the yellow box in front of the orange box. asked Genie to make the sentence, Curtiss is not a dog. Genie ignored me and S G: Put blue box in the white box. made a sentence she wanted to make: Curtiss is naughty. z C: Put the green box over the orange box.

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4d Genie: A Psycholinguistic Study

: rings home. I was overjoyed. This is the first time Genie has ever given me anything or shared anything with me.

af | 2/26/73. Today Genie revealed an adolescent crush on Mr. B, her school bus x : Part TT driver. When I mentioned his name to her, she blushed and held her hands i over her face. She also talks about him incessantly, mentioning his name over . 1g and over. Today I asked her, Who is Mr. B? Genie answered Mr. B. She was at . overcome—blushing, she was unable to verbalize. a : 2/19/75. Genie has come a long way in controlling her behavior and dealing a : with her feelings. Not so long ago, many things would have touched off a a tantrum that now can be dealt with through reasoning and verbalization. s in all Nonetheless, this time, when Genie is actually having a tantrum, I have a C never been able to reach her through words to help bring her out of her distress. fs LINGUISTI DEVELOPMENT She has never been able to look me directly in the face or focus directly on ba : something I was saying to her during a tantrum. Today was different. “48 Snacktime had gone smoothly; Genie did not seem particularly agitated - or upset. Yet as soon as we sat down to work, a tantrum began to brew. After ug a few minutes, Genie was stamping and rocking and exhibiting a great deal of “ts agitation and typical tantrum behavior. Normally I would simply have told Re her it was time to go outside, where she could not destroy anything, and where a she would have room to flail out and run or whatever. This is what the foster 3 mother had shown me to do whenever Genie had a tantrum. Today, however, ce

. [ just sat there and began to talk to her. I still fully expected to have to take her ae outside, but I was stalling for time, since getting her outside when she’s agitated “ie is such an ordeal. To my amazement, Genie really began to listen to what I ee was saying and, to my further amazement, began to respond to me and actually 2 to look me directly in the face as we talked. She still exhibited tantrum behavior, “a but our talking about what was upsetting her seemed to calm her down and mm ease her anger. She paid close attention to what I said, repeated my statements % after me, reflected on them aloud, and let their import help her deal with her « feelings. In addition to talking about the situation which had upset her, I told 12 her that when she was unhappy, I felt unhappy for her, and that when she felt t good, I felt good. I went on and on about my feelings for her, and howIfelt hy when something upset her terribly and I could see her unhappiness on her * face, and so forth. After her tantrum had subsided, she came over to me, very ae close, and said, Love Curtiss. I don’t think I’ve ever felt closer to Genie. ¥ ES

My work with Genie continues, and Genie continues to a change, becoming £ _ fuller person, realizing more of her human potential. By the time this work is x read, she may have developed far beyond what is described here. That is my 7

: hope—that I will not be able to keep up with her, that she will have the last word.

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