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I interpreted the quotes as implying that the children hadn’t developed a full human language, but rather the rudimentary beginnings of one. Independently of whether it’s signed or spoken.

(You are indeed correct that sign languages are full-blown languages, not just re-encodings of the local spoken language as many people think.)

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Nicaraguan Sign Language is a full language, though.

Yes, I know.

But that's not what (scanning back through the article) the author used quotation marks for. They mostly talk about children forming a sort of pigeon in a laboratory setup.

Pidgin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pidgin

Seems to be out of editing range now, but worth noting for the next reader. Oh English homophones, bane of mine own heart.

> I interpreted the quotes as implying that the children hadn’t developed a full human language, but rather the rudimentary beginnings of one.

A language, in other words.

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