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Autonomous languages of twins.

P Bakker1

  • 1Institute of General Linguistics, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Acta Geneticae Medicae Et Gemellologiae
|January 1, 1987
PubMed
Summary

About 40% of twins develop unique autonomous languages, often due to limited exposure to adult language models. These sibling-created languages, while unintelligible to outsiders, are shaped by situational factors and children

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Area of Science:

  • Linguistics
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Child Language Acquisition

Background:

  • Autonomous languages, also known as cryptophasia or idioglossia, are frequently observed in twins.
  • This phenomenon is more common than previously believed, occurring in approximately 40% of twin pairs.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare nine autonomous languages.
  • To investigate the emergence circumstances of these languages.
  • To analyze their relationship with the parental model language and their internal structure.

Main Methods:

  • Comparative analysis of nine autonomous languages.
  • Examination of linguistic features including vocabulary and syntax.
  • Exploration of situational factors influencing language development.

Main Results:

  • Autonomous languages emerge when siblings, particularly twins, have limited exposure to adult language models during acquisition.
  • These languages often consist of onomatopoeia, invented words, and modified adult words, making them difficult to understand.
  • Linguistic structure is characterized by a lack of morphology and pragmatic word order, influenced by saliency and semantic scope.

Conclusions:

  • Situational factors are the primary drivers for the emergence and structure of autonomous languages.
  • The absence or infrequent presence of a consistent adult language model is crucial for their development.
  • These languages represent an imperfect acquisition of the model language, stabilized at a certain level.

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