Talk:Language deprivation experiments

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A fact from Language deprivation experiments appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on February 2, 2007.
Wikipedia


According to the link, it was James V of Scotland, not James IV who held experiments in language; also, he ruled BEFORE Akbar =). Elefuntboy 16:58, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Historical examples"

The term "historical" is a pretty loose description of these stories, which might better be termed semi-legendary. Furthermore, the category "Historical Linguistics" is pretty much of a stretch; "Psycholinguistics" might be closer. --Ziusudra 04:11, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

Taking this a little bit further:
  • As to the literal truth of Herodotus, critics ancient and modern accuse him of fabricating many outlandish stories (see Scrutiny of Herodotus' works).
  • As to Salimbene di Adam's acccount of such an experiment, which even the present article calls "alleged", it is to be found in his Chronicle among other "curiosities" or "excesses" of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, such as the amphibious "Nicholas the Fish", whom the emperor compelled to retrieve his golden cup from the bottom of Charybdis. Frederick had many enemies who were fond of villifying him, cruel though he might have been, so any such tales are to be take with several grains of salt. (BTW, the WikiSource for Salimbene's Chronicle to which the article links is missing. A paraphrase and translation from Latin is to be found at [1].)
  • As to the reference for James V of Scotland, the cited source states, "...the children were reported to have spoken good Hebrew." The witness impeacheth itself.
  • Finally, in the same reference (online class notes for an undergraduate linguistics course), no verifiable source for the alleged deeds of James or Akbar is given.
It seems to me that what these citations provide would be, not a verifiable history of experiments, but perhaps an indication that the idea has long been current, that only a cruel autocrat could order such an inhuman experiment. --Ziusudra 03:10, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
Agree. btw I've found another source for the Akbar anecdote.--K.C. Tang 06:50, 5 February 2007 (UTC)