Nature Vs Nurture Language Development

Both Nature and Nurture play a key role in human development and language development. So what is the difference between the two? Nature is the more scientific theory,which is based on genetic inheritance and other biological factors. Whereas nurture is the influence of external factors, such as your environment. The case of Genie, a wild child is a good example for answering questions arising the topic of language development through nature or nurture. Noam Chomsky, a linguist,philosopher and cognitive scientist, suggested that we acquire language because it is within our genetic make up. Other linguists believed differently. Some believed, that we learn language and develop it from association with other humans and imitating the language
On November 17th, 1970, when she was just 13 years olds, a social worker found Genie and rescued her. Genie’s case of extreme neglect and malnourishment made the Los Angeles Times for a week straight. When she was found she weighed only 59 pounds. She had no interaction with people and was confined to her potty seat for majority of the time. She only got unstrapped when her father remembered, and once unstrapped she was stuck in a sleeping bag that was similar to a straight jacket. There was a ring on her bottom from being strapped on the potty seat. She was not fed the proper nutrients she need, or fed that often. Genie was unable to chew solid foods,swallow or walk upright. When Genie would make a noise she was beaten and only knew around two phrases and 22 words. Her motor skills were equivalent to a 2 year old. Irene, her mother, accidentally contacted social services and they came and took Genie and arrested her parents. Before the court date on November 20,1970, Clark, Genie’s father committed
Of course our genetics play an important part, but as we can see in the case of Genie how nurture affects our physical, cognitive, and emotional growth. Isolation can cause us to develop irregularly and in Genie's case, isolation caused her to miss her critical period of development. Once she hit around 12-13 years of age, she missed that time slot to learn a key function on development such as language and emotions. At age 13 when she was rescued social services she was nowhere near a normal child’s development. Her language acquisition was nowhere near a normal 13 year old’s level but at a 2 year old’s level .Once taken into a new environment with human interaction, she was able to expand her vocabulary, she was never able to fully understand grammar and stayed at the level of telegraphic speech. Most of Genie’s life she was not exposed to a human environment where she can imitate or nurtured to emotions.So instead of showing she was angry she was just urinate instead. The younger years of a child’s life is the most crucial for development and growth and is a product of nurture. Although both nature and nurture determines how we grow, in Genie’s case, nurture had a greater influence on Genie’s