Genie Language Summary

Along with being unable to recognize language, Genie had difficulty learning how to use speech because she had not learned the “neuro-muscular” controls over vocal organs at a younger age (Fromkin et al., 1974). This lack of control caused her inability to speak and explains why her early communication tactics were merely in tiny whispers and grunts. Like most children who are acquiring a language in their early years, Genie began to speak in consonant vowel monosyllables. These monosyllables slowly transformed into single words, but there was no correlation between her thought processes and to what was being spoken. In other words, Genie’s speech and what she spoke was spontaneous and contained little to no meaning. As Genie’s speech continued