# Human communication hypothetical experiment **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 17, 2013, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-communication-hypothetical-experiment/674114 "2013-11-17T12:41:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-communication-hypothetical-experiment/674114/21 "2013-11-18T06:50:24Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > I believe I have heard the story of this experiment associated with Holy Roman Emperor\* Frederick II. Indeed, I find it is mentioned [here in Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_II,_Holy_Roman_Emperor#Science), which mentions the hypothesis that they would speak Hebrew. The experiment however, is said to have failed (if it was ever really carried out). Somewhere-or-other, a long time ago, I read some variation of this story too. It was said that the children, deprived of socialization, died very quickly. (ETA: But no doubt, any modern telling of the story must probably be relying in the same account that the Wiki article quotes.) ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-communication-hypothetical-experiment/674114/22 "2013-11-18T06:59:29Z")
Without speech from the robots, the children would not only be robbed of speech development but also other acculturation - know knowledge of all the minor technologies that make life possible for humans and all dependent to some extent on speech to promote it. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-communication-hypothetical-experiment/674114/23 "2013-11-18T13:56:43Z")
Children mimic as part of their learning at a early stage, for the OP the children may mimic the robotic sounds or actions related to the object they are trying to convey. But language seems to be a secondary communication method, the first may be emotional expression, but emotional expression does overlap into voice, such as crying and laughing. Language may have come out of emotional expression, and developed from there, meaning that language is not natural in its raw form, but development of language later on is natural, but also our very thinking of language as the primary method of communication may involve needed to let go of emotional expression is the primary method of communication. In a situation such as the OP however there would not be adults (using language) for the infants (using emotional conveyance) to make such a transition to language using mimicking Another issue would be that other infants may not respond well to the emotional needs of other infants, and may actually feed off of the happiness of others, such as taking another’s toy. But the robot care takes may or may not be programed to compensate for this and provide above what may be taken, along with discipline and instruction. ---
**Author:** ![EdwardLost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@EdwardLost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdwardLost)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-communication-hypothetical-experiment/674114/24 "2013-11-18T21:28:01Z")
The silent-caretakers tale is in Herodotus’ Histories (5th century BCE), and the language-primaeval is Phrygian. The experiment with human caretakers would be much better than with robots. The children could be given as much love, care, and interaction as any normally brought-up child - but just without language. My guess is that the kids would develop a language among themselves. This would be much simpler in vocabulary and structure than any existing living language but would allow them to have more or less normal, healthy, relationships. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-communication-hypothetical-experiment/674114/25 "2013-11-18T22:26:45Z")
I found it; it was James IV, not sixth (a forgivable error, if I were dyslexic). > **[Language deprivation experiments](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_deprivation_experiments)** > > Language deprivation experiments have been claimed to have been attempted at least four times through history, isolating infants from the normal use of spoken or signed language in an attempt to discover the fundamental character of human nature or the origin of language. > The American literary scholar Roger Shattuck called this kind of research study the "forbidden experiment" because of the exceptional deprivation of ordinary human contact it requires. Although not designed to study language, s... > [@](#): > > Several centuries after Frederick II’s experiment, James IV of Scotland was said to have sent two children to be raised by a mute woman isolated on the island of Inchkeith, to determine if language was learned or innate.[4] The children were reported to have spoken good Hebrew.[5] This experiment was later repeated by the Mughal emperor Akbar, who held that speech arose from hearing, thus children raised without hearing human speech would become mute. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-communication-hypothetical-experiment/674114.md?page=1)