{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,8]],"date-time":"2026-02-08T14:24:46Z","timestamp":1770560686663,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":61,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,28]],"date-time":"2025-12-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1766880000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":27,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,1]],"date-time":"2025-12-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1764547200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/doi.wiley.com\/10.1002\/tdm_license_1.1"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001807","name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o de Amparo \u00e0 Pesquisa do Estado de S\u00e3o Paulo","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2023\/03196\u20105"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023\/03196\u20105"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001807","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Cognitive Science"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>It is assumed that in order to acquire a language, children must be exposed to a language during the critical period, which generally lasts until puberty. Here, we report on Cena, an emergent sign language that has developed among a small group of deaf people in an isolated town in the state of Piau\u00ed, Brazil. Starting three generations ago, it has developed into a fully functioning communicative system with all characteristics of a typical human language even though Cena developed in a linguistic vacuum. What makes Cena interesting is that we are reasonably certain that Cena had no external input from the national sign language, Libras, or any other language during its formation. Cena challenges the assumption that to acquire the first language, the child must be exposed to a fully developed language. It developed from homesigns to an emergent sign language that is used for all aspects of village life. Cena also lends credence to the interactional model of language acquisition, which considers the interactions between the child and the caregivers to be the crucial element. The nativist model of language acquisition, which assumes a universal system underlying language, also plays a part. Through interaction, what arose is a system with characteristics essential to all human language.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1111\/cogs.70159","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,29]],"date-time":"2025-12-29T01:42:36Z","timestamp":1766972556000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Birth of a Language in the Backlands of Brazil"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"49","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4369-4885","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anderson","family":"Almeida\u2010Silva","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Linguistics Federal University of Pernambuco"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3660-1006","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Remo","family":"Nitschke","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution University of Zurich"},{"name":"Department of Linguistics University of Arizona"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4400-4869","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fernando","family":"Valls Yoshida","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Linguistics University of S\u00e3o Paulo"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3881-0108","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Vitor","family":"N\u00f3brega","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Linguistics University of S\u00e3o Paulo"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6134-9463","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shigeru","family":"Miyagawa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Bioscience University of S\u00e3o Paulo"},{"name":"Department of Linguistics Massachusetts Institute of Technology"},{"name":"Research Center for Society 5.0 Seikei University"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_14_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4324\/9780429501517"},{"key":"e_1_2_14_3_1","volume-title":"Cena\u2013Dicion\u00e1rio Visual Da L\u00edngua de Sinais de V\u00e1rzea Queimada\u2013Edi\u00e7\u00e3o Com Libras, Portugu\u00eas e Ingl\u00eas","author":"Almeida\u2010Silva, A., Iago Pedro Mendes Pires Veras, J\u00f3 Carlos Neves Freitas, Loise Soares de Azevedo, Telma Franco, N\u00e1dia Fernanda Martins de Ara\u00fajo, Andrew Nevins, Ant\u00f4nio Nelson Teixeira Moreno, Bruna Rodrigues da Silva Neres, Carlos Douglas Carvalho de Mac\u00eado, Diane Stoianov, Din\u00e1 Sousa da Silva, & Glauber Lima Moreira","year":"2023"},{"key":"e_1_2_14_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.15210\/rle.v23i4.18533"},{"key":"e_1_2_14_5_1","volume-title":"The atoms of language: The mind's hidden rules of grammar","author":"Baker M.","year":"2001"},{"key":"e_1_2_14_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10670-016-9839-1"},{"key":"e_1_2_14_7_1","volume-title":"Why only us: Language and evolution","author":"Berwick R. 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