European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 17, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 20 the stars and stripes monday october 17, 1977 linguistic Enigma witha language of their own new York times Robert Burroughs Virginia and Grace Kennedy communicating in sign language with a speech therapist in san Diego. By Everett r. Holles new York times laying with a doll House in the speech therapy Center at children s Hospital in san Diego calif., Virginia and Grace Kennedy identical twins who will be 7 years old this month carried on an animated conversation broken by out bursts of childish laughter. Dugon those Yorn Kickin Duah asked Virginia who is called Camenga by her sister. Grace who is Poto nodded and replied with what sounded like soup Auk Chase  both immediately set about removing the doll House s furniture. Neither seemed to notice a tape recorder or voice wave tracing equipment monitoring their gibberish or a group of speech and language specialists watching and listening intently in a Glass windowed Booth. Scientists have been fascinated and baffled in recent weeks by the conversations of the pretty Black haired twins who understand English German sign language and a smattering of Spanish but who for five years have spoken Only in what appears to be a language of their own. Their conversations Are unintelligible even to their parents Thomas Kennedy and his German born wife Christine of san Diego. The Kennedy decided in Janu Ary that the girls were mentally impaired and enrolled them in a school for retarded children. But psychologists at the school concluded before the end of their first semester that the children had been mis placed. They were the psychologists said mentally Alert Quick to learn and except for their refusal to speak in anything but what seemed to be their own language of Normal intelligence. In june the twins were referring to the speech therapy clinic at children s Hospital. Alexa Romain the principal therapist working with the Kennedy twins believes that further observations and testing May disclose that their Jabberwocky May be really a comprehensive private language with a Struc tured  in the scientific literature on the subject Over the last 50 years she said there is Only one other Case that even comes close to what we Are witnessing that of trip lets in Germany some years  they could prove to be one of a very few documented cases of Idio Glossa or twin speech according to several of the linguistic experts trying to unscramble their conversations. If the twins jargon can be broken Down and trans lated into a consistent meaningful vocabulary and sentence Structure it May help to solve a Long stand ing scientific problem. Researchers have never been Able to establish whether children Are born with a genetic brain mechanism for developing language or whether they merely acquire speech communication by exposure to the spoken word. Several speech experts have cautioned however that a neurological explanation May be found for the phenom  suffered convulsive seizures soon after their birth in Columbus ga., the Kennedy girls underwent sur Gery at the age of 6 months because of excessive brain fluid. Or. Harlan Lane of Northwestern University is one of those who have suggested that the twins May have suffered in infancy an obscure form of brain damage known As  affliction he explained produces distorted unarticulated speech scrambling or even reversing Normal language while leaving unaffected that part of the brain that receives and comprehends Normal conversation. Linguists at the Hospital said however that the twins have begun to respond with English words and sentences without any Trace of distortion or vocal impediment. Ann Koenecke of the speech therapy staff said that with the Affinity unique to twins the evidence of twin speech rather than operative brain damage appears to be Strong. Idio Glossa she added although extremely rare is usually found in twins who like Virginia and Grace Ken Nedy have grown up in unusually close companionship largely isolated from the influence of other children. Romain explained that the girls conversation bore no resemblance to baby talk or to phonological distortions of the English and German spoken in their Home. It appears at this Point but remains to be verified that they have made up Between themselves a language with a sentence Structure verbs nouns and verb tenses within an ordered although still immature grammatical framework she added. Or. Leonard Newmark professor of linguistics at the University of California in san Diego said the studies of the Kennedy twins May help us in resolving one of the most intriguing and controversial enigmas of linguistic and cognitive  we have never had an Opportunity before to watch what appears to be a natural language being constructed he said. Studying these children May provide data that will help provide the answer As to whether Lan Guage ability is  the twins were nearly 2 years old when the family came to California living first in a Rural Community near Escondido where the girls had Little Opportunity to play with other children. It was about that time they began developing their private  Kennedy said you had Only to watch and listen to them for a few minutes and it was quite Clear they were carrying on what to them was an intelligible Conversa Tion in their own private language. It stared when they were about 17 months old. One would hold up an object suggest a name for it and the other would  the class for the retarded that the twins attended included a number of mexican american children and Spanish words sometimes crept into their gibberish. It was arranged for the girls and or. And mrs. Kennedy to study sign language and the twins picked it up More readily than their parents. For a Large part of the twins lives both parents worked and they were under the care of their maternal grandmother who came to the United states from Ger Many about the time of their birth and Speaks very Little English. We brought in a German linguist and he could find Only four or five words such As Milch for milk that in any Way resembled German Romain said. We have found no evidence thus far at least that their speech is a complicated English German  at wits end by Erm Bombeck when they talk about gut courage in the years to come the heroes will emerge from the survivors of the 1899 Johnstown flood the 1912 sinking of the titanic the 1933 California earthquake and the 1977 lines for the Star wars. As a survivor of one of the lines for Star wars i know that moments of stress bring out the Best and the worst in people. I saw it  Young people who brought food and drink to the aged to stave off unconsciousness. The warmth of the line to the Little girl who bought a child s ticket and stood there so Long she passed puberty and needed More Money to go in As an adult. The woman who gave up her place in line to a Man in a wheelchair and Only charged him$5. Of course there were the ugliest. The Man who dressed up As a fire marshal and charged into the theater ahead of everyone else until someone noticed he was wearing Adidas Tennis shoes and a headband. The cruelty of the Man who came out of the theatre and said in a loud voice you be just paid $3.50 for a two hour sleeping  the Weirdo who drove his camper into the line and threw a  line at Best is a dangerous place to be. Perhaps the greatest Hazard is being recognized by a Friend. I had been waiting for 45 minutes when a voice said Well look who s Here. How have you been i could feel the line behind me stir and grow  looked at the face blankly who me do i look like someone you know Are you crazy i m your Mother. I did t know you were coming  by this time the line has become a mob. Out of the Corner of my Eye i see someone reach Down for a Rock. I had Only Felt fear like that on one other occasion. It was in a laundromat in Maine where there was a waiting line for the dryers and someone discovered i was using two. I won t forget their fingernails dig Ging into my skin if i lived to be a Hundred. Give me a break mom i whispered and move on. If i give you a place in line they d tear me  inside the theater the main event begins with brother trampling brother wife edging out her husband and entire families splintered apart. It s every Man for him self Only the Strong get a seat. In the seat next to mine a woman leaned Over and said dear could you save my seat for me while i go for Popcorn i closed my eyes praying for divine guidance on what to do. Finally i relented. Okay mom but if you re not Back when the feature begins i la have to pretend i be never seen you before in my  c 1w7 Field enterprises inc