>> I admit I'd love to marry a conlang-freak
>> lady but I've never met one "in real life". I'm not married nor have
>> children but I guess some of you share your lives with conlang-loving
>> partners and have thought on the possibility of performing what I call
>> "the forbidden experiment". I know this sounds somewhat like "final
>> solution" or a Dr. Mengele experience but it's nothing to do with that.
>> In ancient times the forbidden experiment consisted in keeping a baby
>> away from human presence and see whether a sort of innate behaviours
>> arise. That is, when we speak about language, to see if the child starts
>> speaking a sort of non-taught language. The reason why this experiment
>> is regarded as forbidden is obvious.
>
> I've heard that it had once been performed long ago (maybe during
the
>Middle Ages) and that the results had been that all children had died by
>stopping to eat. Seems like communication is vital for life (maybe it's
>only a legend though).
The disease caused by this is called 'hospitalism.'
Some information can be found in the second half of this article:
http://www.discover.com/cover_story/comment4.html
As it isn't 'just' the communication that causes this, one might try it
without keeping the children in isolation. But that might ruin the point...
*Muke!