The Critical Period Hypothesis

• The critical period hypothesis is the subject of a long-standing debate in linguistics and language acquisition over the extent to which the ability to acquire language is biologically linked to age.
• The hypothesis claims that there is an ideal "window" of time to acquire language in a linguistically rich environment after which further language acquisition becomes much more difficult.
• In 1967, Eric Lenneberg stated that there are maturational constraints on the time a first language can be acquired. He believed the onset of puberty 'closed the window'.
• Today, most linguists believe this 'window' is even shorter. The critical period probably ends around the age of seven.