Either it's a recurrent notion in pre-scientific times, or it's a
folktale motif. And maybe there are echoes of the underlying ideas
in the concept of grammar being 'hard-wired' in the brain.
Herodotus I believe relates the tale of a pharaoh having something
similar done, and there are also reports of James VI secluding a
neonate on one of the islands in the Firth of Forth (possibly with a
deaf-mute mother or wet nurse) to discover what the language was the
child in the event began to speak.
At the back of James' mind (if I am recalling the accounts correctly)
was the ambition of determining whether the language was biblical
Hebrew.
Not sure how far this is off-topic for the list (but it seems to have
a flavour detectable in other postings ...)
Kind regards,
Gordon Selway
<
gordonselway@...>
At 9:13 this morning P&G wrote:
> > I myself think that ... isolating somenewborn children in a lab and seeing
>> if they learn to speak, and how. Of course, wet-nurses would come in,
>> but silence would needs be maintained from any outside influence.
>> Even if the children never spoke, the simple motions of reference
>> would begin to emerge.
>
>It's been done. I think it was Frederick the Great.
>
>Peter