Feral Child: Oxana

[Jibbles]

Oxana's drug addicted parents were unable to care for her, and at three years of age she was exiled from her home. They lived in an impoverished area where there were wild dogs roaming the streets. She took refuge in a shed inhabited by these dogs behind her house. She was cared for by them and learned their behaviors and mannerisms. The bonding with the pack of dogs was so strong that the authorities who came to rescue her were driven away in the first attempt by the dogs. She growled, barked, walked on all fours and crouched like a wild dog, sniffed at her food before she ate it, and was found to have acquired extremely acute senses of hearing, smell and sight. She only knew how to say "yes" and "no" when she was rescued.

When she was discovered, Oxana found it difficult to acquire normal human social and emotional skills. She had been deprived of intellectual and social stimulation, and her only emotional support had come from the dogs she lived with. Oxana's lack of exposure to language in a human social context made it very difficult for her to improve her language skills.

Today, Oxana can speak and many of her behavior problems have been remedied. Whether she will be able to form strong relationships and feel part of any human community remains to be seen. In the British Channel 4 documentary, as well in the Portuguese SIC channel documentary, her doctors stated that it is unlikely that she will ever be properly rehabilitated into "normal" society.

As of 2010 at the age of 27, Oxana resides at a home for the mentally handicapped, where she helps look after the cows in the clinic's farm. She has expressed that she is happiest when among dogs.

^Wiki.

I love when Oxana speaks about her upbringing. I love how affectionate animals can be. Better than most humans, IMO. What I'm curious about is how effective her "barking" is when conversing with dogs. For example, is she actually able to communicate with them.

[ZEROSPHERES]

This story reminds me of the movie 'Nell' with Jodie Foster.

[Jibbles]

I've never seen that. Recommended?

[ZEROSPHERES]

It's worth a watch. It has been 18 years since I saw it and it made my companion to the theater in Charlotte NC that night cry uncontrollably. She had grown up in an isolated home in the middle of nowhere and could relate to the loneliness and isolation that 'Nell' experienced.

[Jibbles]

I'll see if I can get my grandmother to watch it with me. She's a cinema freak. Netflix out the wazoo. I have a feeling that'd be right up her alley. Maybe it'll connect with my introverted nature somehow.

[Donovan]

Nell is pretty good. I watched it years ago and it was similar to this Russian girl's rehab story. Most of it IIRC was the fight to prove she wasn't retarded. I went through a phase where I was into sociocultural stuff and linguistics. Still am, I suppose. I think I remember the plot being along the lines of her living with a grandmother who died suddenly when she was young, or something like that, out in the woods. Nobody else around, so she goes kind of feral.

But Nell is at least worth a viewing. Better that that the godawful "Contact".

[Ma Huang Sor]

This story reminds me of the movie 'Nell' with Jodie Foster.

I really enjoyed this film. I especially liked the backstory on how they developed Nell's language, which was pretty easily actually because they had a real story to work with if I remember correctly.

Jodie Foster had it going on in this film though. That scene on the rock in the water is just compelling.

[Donovan]

A lot of the nuts and bolts of Nell, linguistically speaking anyway, are factual to what happens to language in extreme isolation. There is an island in America where this sort of pidgining has happened but the name escapes me right this minute
I'll find it later on my comp but basically it's an island of former slaves Iirc who remained so cut off and isolated that over generations they developed a dialect no outsider can easily understand. Fascinating really. You can see it to a lesser extent in Jamaica, Haiti, and in deep backwoods hill people in the American Deep South.

[username]

Another example of great parenting.

She makes an amazing dog. I wonder where her place was in the pack.

She seems cognizant enough when interviewed. Too bad they've determined she'll probably never be normal enough to return to society. I bet she'd make a great dog whisperer.

[Ma Huang Sor]

A lot of the nuts and bolts of Nell, linguistically speaking anyway, are factual to what happens to language in extreme isolation. There is an island in America where this sort of pidgining has happened but the name escapes me right this minute
I'll find it later on my comp but basically it's an island of former slaves Iirc who remained so cut off and isolated that over generations they developed a dialect no outsider can easily understand. Fascinating really. You can see it to a lesser extent in Jamaica, Haiti, and in deep backwoods hill people in the American Deep South.

The Gullah?

http://geography.about.com/od/culturalge...Gullah.htm

[Eat Shit And Die]

She makes an amazing dog. I wonder where her place was in the pack.

Cook, Child bearer and Cleaner obviously.

[koko]

I watched a documentary about feral children years ago on a night i couldn't fall asleep. I was strangely fascinated. I know they talked about Oxana. Another i remember is a girl named Genie from California. Poor girl was neglected terribly, probably would have had better luck had she been raised by wolves.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_(feral_child)

[Donovan]

A lot of the nuts and bolts of Nell, linguistically speaking anyway, are factual to what happens to language in extreme isolation. There is an island in America where this sort of pidgining has happened but the name escapes me right this minute
I'll find it later on my comp but basically it's an island of former slaves Iirc who remained so cut off and isolated that over generations they developed a dialect no outsider can easily understand. Fascinating really. You can see it to a lesser extent in Jamaica, Haiti, and in deep backwoods hill people in the American Deep South.

The Gullah?

http://geography.about.com/od/culturalge...Gullah.htm

Yeah that's them. I posted a response to this yesterday but I must have phone-failed. These people are a living case study for assimilation, linguistics arcs and language fluidity due to their isolation and lack of outside influence. Fascinating if you're a wordnerd like me, for others maybe not so much.