Is it possible, as a human being, to know no language? Unfortunately, yes.

This is Genie, the victim of one of the worst child abuse cases in recorded history. But Genie’s experience was not as violent and torturous as the case of, say, Sylvia Likens. Her abuse came primarily in the form of total isolation.

She spent 13 years of her life locked in her room, either restrained to a toilet chair, or fully immobilized in a crib, able to move only her fingers and toes. The room was kept dark at all hours with the windows covered, meaning Genie received basically no stimulation whatsoever.

Her father was a disturbed man who hated many things, but he especially hated noise - any member of the family who made any kind of noise in the house was subject to severe beatings.

Genie was born in the midst of her father’s psychological deterioration, when his most extreme behaviors began. If she attempted to vocalize in any way during her confinement, he would strike her or bark like a dog. Genie learned to be silent, but she never learned to speak.

At age 13 she was rescued, and quickly became an object of fascination for psychological and linguistic researchers, affording a thankfully rare insight into the traits of children who miss the ‘critical period’ of language acquisition.

They found that Genie had the mental age of an infant and showed more interest in objects and sounds than people. While she could distinguish speech from other sounds, she seemed initially disinterested in communication. Over the course of years, under the guidance of a team of psychologists, she eventually developed a small working vocabulary which she could use to form simple sentences. For example:

“Father hit arm. Big wood. Genie cry ... Not spit. Father. Hit face—spit. Father hit big stick. Father is angry. Father hit Genie big stick. Father take piece wood hit. Cry. Father make me cry. Father is dead.“

However, she never fully grasped the rules of grammar, and could not distinguish the meaning of ‘you’ from ‘I’. Brain scans showed that her language centers were severely atrophied, and she was acquiring language in the right hemisphere rather than the left.

Her performance on cognitive tests focusing on right hemisphere brain functions was recorded as exceptionally high, superior to many adults. Scientists concluded that her lack of linguistic stimulation had caused her brain to specialize strongly in these other areas.

However, while the research provided valuable insights into language acquisition, the results were obviously confounded by the extreme abuse Genie was subject to, and the ultimately unresolved possibility that she was born with mental impairments. As a case study it’s fascinating, as science it’s inherently inconclusive.

The story ends tragically: the researchers lost funding for further study of Genie, and she was returned to her mother’s care. However, she found Genie’s antisocial and self harming behaviors overwhelming, and transferred her guardianship to the state. Genie would pass through a series of foster homes, where she was subject to further abuse and regressed significantly, losing most of the language skills she’d acquired.

Eventually, in 2016, she did find a stable home: a private facility in an undisclosed location in Los Angeles. There, she reportedly lived a simple life but appeared content. She regained some but not all of her hard won language skills, but preferred to communicate using sign language. Since then, no new information has been released on Genie.

We can only hope that she’s able to enjoy some peace, privacy, and stability in what has been an extraordinarily difficult and unusual life.