How the World's Newest Language Developed

Scientific concepts, discoveries, and nature phenomena

Emergence of a new language (Nicaraguan Sign Language) in a short time

• Deaf children who previously used only home-invented “home signs” began creating a shared communication system when brought together in deaf schools.
• The language developed through stages:
  • individual systems → a simplified shared pidgin → a fully structured language
  • as new cohorts of children entered the program.

Education policy as a driver of linguistic change

• In the late 1970s Nicaragua, the Sandinista government expanded education for children, including deaf children (ages 4–16), into the country’s first deaf schools.

Social-linguistic and cognitive mechanisms of language formation

The program produced rapid language invention and grammatical development because students were:

• isolated from each other before school,
• not taught to read,
• not taught spoken Spanish,

As a result, they relied on communication among themselves.

Linguistic structure emerging without direct teaching

• An example described is how the sign for “speak” changed:
  • from a simple motion
  • to one that incorporates subject/object roles
• This is interpreted as evidence for verb agreement (a grammatical concept).
• The case is presented as evidence that learners can induce rules, not merely memorize vocabulary.

Language “maturing” across generations

• Older students initially used simpler, more rudimentary signing.
• Younger students produced more complex, structured, time-relevant summaries.
• This supports the idea that language grows and becomes more systematic over successive cohorts.

Evidence-testing of linguistic theory

• The case is framed as being used to support theories such as innate language capacity, often associated with universal grammar.

Innate / universal grammar theory (controversial)

• Noam Chomsky is referenced: grammar may be partly guided by innate human genetic programming, which is used to explain:
  • children’s ability to learn language quickly,
  • similarities across human languages.

Research methodology used to study the emerging language

• Data collection approach (described):
  • Judy Kegl showed each student a 90-second cartoon.
  • She filmed the students describing what they watched.
  • She then translated/analysed the resulting signed descriptions using her own linguistic knowledge to map meanings and structure.

Lists / stages of language development (as described)

Home signs

• Each child developed a small set of basic signs independently at home.

Pidgin / simplified shared sign system

• When grouped together, children combined home signs into a limited shared system.
• Named: Lenguaje de Signos Nicaragüense (“Nicaraguan Sign Language” in effect; subtitles imply an online translation result).

Idioma / full language

• Newer cohorts mastered the shared pidgin quickly and then elevated it into a fully fledged language.
• Named: Nicaraguan Sign Language (Idioma).

Researchers / sources featured (named)

• Judy Kegl (American linguist; brought in as an investigator in 1986)
• Noam Chomsky (referenced for “innate speaker capacity” / universal grammar)
• Piers Morgan (referenced via a comedic comparison; not presented as a scientific source)