Poto and Cabengo

'Poto and Cabengo' Digital restoration from Criterion Films (Jean-Pierre Gorin, 1979, USA)

The above clip is from a documentary that follows twins Poto and Cabengo, as the two children called each other, who spoke to each other in a private language they'd made up. This unique patois developed because the girls had very little contact with the outside world. Their parents left them in the care of their grandmother who did not play or interact with the them.

This film shows us what happened when the twins were picked up by social services. The story made all the American papers at the time and resulted in a struggle. Scientists wanted to study the language whereas social workers were keen for them to leave their secret language world and enter the mainstream.