THE ACQUISITION OF SPEECH OF A FIVE YEAR OLD CHILD
IN DAILY COMMUNICATION : A CASE STUDY
A THESIS
By :
YUZIKA HIZANI Reg. No. 040705031
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH SUMATRA
FACULTY OF LETTERS
ENGLISH LITERATURE DEPARTMENT
MEDAN
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Alhamdulillahirabbil’alamin, I would like to thank God, Allah SWT, the almighty for all His blessing on me. The grace such as health that He gives me everyday, spirit and chance are the power that support me to finish my thesis, my study. Thank you Allah.
First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor and my co-supervisor, Drs. Bahagia Tarigan, MA and Drs. Yulianus Harefa, Med TESOL who also as the secretary of English Department, for their guidance, advice and constructive comments during the writing of this thesis. Other thanks and sincere gratitude goes to the Dean of Faculty of Letters, University of North Sumatera, Drs, Syaifuddin, MA, Ph.D, the Head of English Department, Dra.Swesana MArdia Lubis, M.Hum, and all af the lecturers and the staffs of English Department for the facilities and opportunities given to me during my study in this university.
All the special thanks and very great thanks are expressed to my beloved parents, Dr. Umar Zein SpPd DTMH KPTI and Dra. Yerni Arief Msi who always pour me with love and care everytime and also during the process to finish my study. My beloved brothers dr. Hadiki Habib, Mohammer Pasha, thank you for giving me a great love , support and attention. Also for my lovely younger brother M. Ryanda Huzein, as the subject of this research, thanks for the happiness that you bring to us since you came to this family. I love you all. Furthermore, my thanks are for all my family, my Aunties, Susmeri Arief and also Tasnidafiarti and for my sweety cousin ever Cut Putri Nuzulia Syarif. Thanks for your love and kindness.
unforgotten moment in my life. And I would like to thank all the student of 2004 : Putri, Keni, Devi, Venny, Febri, Noni, Rudi, and others. My Sakinah’s family : Kak Ina, Noni, Disty, Ady, and others. The students of 2005 : Fresti, Ai, Kiki, Desi, Ayu, Izal, Wiwin, Sri, Iwa, Lili, Feby, Windi, Mala, and others. All the students of 2006 : Takim, Nogu, Ari, Kajol, Dodo, Ifa, Dewi, and others. All my seniors such as : Bang Al, Bang Aldin, Bang Nurul, Kak Dani, Kak Dina, Kak Nita, etc. And I also would like to thank to all my friends in Theater ‘O’, HMI, and Pro2 RRI Medan.
And the last but not least, my special thanks are addressed for my special one, Azie who always gives me big support, attention, care, and love.
May Allah Bless us all. Amin.
Medan, 17 December 2008
The Writer
ABSTRACT
Penulisan skripsi ini dilatarbelakangi oleh tory Chomsky yang memperkenalkan teori Language Acquisition Device (LAD). LAD merupakan suatu alat yang berada pada seorang anak sejak lahir sehingga ia dapat memeroleh bahasa ibunya dengan mudah, LAD berlaku tidak hanya pada bahasa pertama atau bahasa ibu tetapi juga bahasa kedua, ketiga, dan seterusnya. Skripsi ini berjudul “The Acquisition of Speech of A Five Year Old Children in Daily Communication : A Case Study”. Penelitian ini mengkaji pemerolehen bahasa ibu seorang anak Indonesia yang berusia lima tahun (M. Ryanda Huzein) dalam berkomunikasi sehari-hari. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui perkembangan penmakaian bahasa dalam berkomunikasi di kehidupan sehari-hari mencakup penggunaan kalimat tanya, negative dan perintah. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian deskriptif kualitatif.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……….…...i
AUTHOR DECLARATION...ii
COPYRIGHT DECLARATION...iv
ABSTRACT………..v
TABLE OF CONTENTS………vi
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Analysis……….1
1.2 Scope of the Analysis………...4
1.3 Problem of the Analysis………...4
1.4 Objective of the Analysis……….4
1.5 Significance of the Analysis……….5
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 2.1 Language Acquisition………..6
2.1.1 First Language Acquisition………8
2.1.2 Language Acquisition Device………9
e 2.1.3 Stages of Language Acquisition………...12
2.1.4 Factor Influencing in The Language Development of Children………..18
2.2 Children Speech and Communication………20
2.2.1 Speech Acquisition of Children………...20
2.2.2 Oral Language of Children………..22
2.3 Relevance Study...25
CHAPTER III METHOD OF THE ANALYSIS 3.1 Research Method...27
3.2 Collecting Method...28
3.3 Data Analyzing Method...28
CHAPTER IV THE ANALYSIS OF CHILDREN SPEECH ACQUISITION IN DAILY COMMUNICATION 4.1 Analysis of the Data ………..29
4.2 Interrogative, Negative, and Imperative Sentences………35
4.2.2 Negative Sentences………37
4.2.3 Imperative Sentences……….37
4.3 Discussion………..38
CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 5.1. Conclusions..……….39
5.2. Suggestions………40
BIBLIOGRAPHY………..41
ABSTRACT
Penulisan skripsi ini dilatarbelakangi oleh tory Chomsky yang memperkenalkan teori Language Acquisition Device (LAD). LAD merupakan suatu alat yang berada pada seorang anak sejak lahir sehingga ia dapat memeroleh bahasa ibunya dengan mudah, LAD berlaku tidak hanya pada bahasa pertama atau bahasa ibu tetapi juga bahasa kedua, ketiga, dan seterusnya. Skripsi ini berjudul “The Acquisition of Speech of A Five Year Old Children in Daily Communication : A Case Study”. Penelitian ini mengkaji pemerolehen bahasa ibu seorang anak Indonesia yang berusia lima tahun (M. Ryanda Huzein) dalam berkomunikasi sehari-hari. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui perkembangan penmakaian bahasa dalam berkomunikasi di kehidupan sehari-hari mencakup penggunaan kalimat tanya, negative dan perintah. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian deskriptif kualitatif.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background of the Analysis
Language is always and everywhere with us. It is very important for human beings and it plays a great part in our life. Every person as a member of society uses language, in getting and giving information, expressing ideas and doing all activities, as a tool of communication and interaction. As a set of tool, it is not an inheritance, but it is acquired through a long process of learning involving some stages i.e., crying, babbling, cooing, one word utterance, two word utterance, and more than two word utterance as Fromklin and Rodman (1974 : 2) Language is…a system by which sounds and meanings are related.
The acquisition process of a language, begins from children period. Children acquire language by hearing in the surrounding areas of their society. Then they utter and imitate what they have heard. Children do not wake up one morning with fully grammar in their heads or with all rules of social and communicative intercourse (Dardjowijoyo. 2000).
Dardjowidjoyo (2000) also gives opinion that language acquisition cannot be happened only by innate properties. Language acquisition is impossible to happen only with society and environment factors.
At the early stage, children are abstracting information from the speech that they hear. By hearing adult speech in their environment, children imitate the way adults talk and get progressed with their own speech. However, the outcome of children speech is different from adults speech.
Speech is the verbal means of communicating. Speech consists of the
following components :
• Articulation : How speech sounds are made (e.g., children must learn
how to produce the “r” sound in order to say “rabbit” instead of “wabbit”).
• Voice : The use of the vocal cords and breathing to produce sound (e.g.,
the voice can be abused from overuse, or misuse and can lead to hoarseness, or loss of voice).
• Fluency : The rhythm of speech (e.g., hesitations or stuttering can affect
fluency).
Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that children acquire a language with the help of their parents, environment, and interaction with people. In this study, the writer collected data on a five year old Indonesian child regarding their native language speech.
The child being observed is the writer’s younger brother, M. Ryanda Huzein, born on December 23rd 2002 (5;9;0). He is already in the first class of primary school. He often talks, asks questions, demands, etc, with other people in his environment.
This five year old child has acquired many words in his lexicon. He also can combine words, phrases, and sentences. He can make a dialogue and interact with someone, or even talk to himself, and creates his own dialogue while playing with his toys. Based on this, the writer is interested in observing his speech which sometimes sounds like adult speech although he is still five years old.
1.2
Problems of the Analysis
Although everyone has what is called Language Acquisition Device as once stated by Chomsky (1969 : 6), the process of acquisition is influenced by several things around the child. Along with the ability to speak and create some speeches, the level of Ryanda’s acquisitional development keeps progressing. In this analysis, the writer will focus on two problems. They are as follows :
1. What is the speech development of a five year old child’s daily communication like ?
1.3
Scope of the Analysis
This research is limited to :
1. The use of negative, interrogative, and imperative sentences/speeches by the child.
2. The spoken language of the children in daily communication.
1.4
Objectives of the Analysis
In relation to the problem, the objective of this study is :
1. To know the speech development of a five year old child’s daily communication.
2. To know the use of a five year old child language to express his intention.
1.5
Significance of the Analysis
This thesis is expected to give some significance, especially for those who are interested in studying language acquisition. The findings of this thesis are expected to help learners enrich their understanding about children language acquisition.
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1 Language
Acquisition
Do children acquire language rapidly, or slowly? From the vantage point of linguistic theory, all normal children could be expected to have full command of a rich and intricate system of linguistic principles in just a few years. Experimental studies of child language, however, paint a different picture of language development: It appears that language learning extends over many years, with children making numerous missteps along the way.
Language acquisition is the study which accounts the children language development in a natural setting. It refers to the children’s development on the language comprehension and production (Paivio and Beg, 1981 : 213-252). This means that Language Acquisition concerns with the children’s naturalistic way to produce and interpret language as the tool of their social communication from the beginning up to the last of their development.
O’grady and Dobrovolsky (1996 : 443-570) state that it refers to the phenomenon of the linguistic development with the end result process is actually a grammar i.e., the mental system that allows people to speak and understand a language.
Chomsky (1987) states that the acquisition of language by native speaker is learned primarily with psychology and psycholinguistics development. Eventhough, when a child is learning to talk, his utterances cannot be fully understood, but we can see that children imitate what they heard and have the natural ability to understand the grammar.
There are two views of scientists, they are empiricists (behaviourists) and rationalists (mentalists). The empiricists say that knowledge is derived from experience. The behaviourists claim that language is learned by operant conditioning. The other theory of empiricists says that language acquisition is the result of stimulus, response of activities, imitation, memorization, and reinforcement facilitating their process of language acquisition. A child should learn to make a response in the first place, and than the response should be reinforced in a variety of ways.
It is different from the empiricists (behaviourists) theory. According to rationalist theory of language development, speaking is an innate ability. Rationalists believe that human brain is wired or predestined to learn a language. They say that all children pass through the same sequence when they learn to speak, no matter what language they use. Chomsky (1987), for instance, claims that infants are born with a Language Acquisition Device (LAD), which gives them an ability to learn the rules of grammar in any possible language. The speech that a child hears activates only those structures in the LAD which are needed to learn the language in question.
2.1.1 First Language Acquisition
Klein (1988 : 4) states that first language acquisition happens when a child learns step by step and can speak with language. The states that first language development is connected to cognitive and social development of children.
The children usually imitates what they hear in adult speech (for example, some of the early attempts at sound patterns, and the acquisition of new words), but very little of grammatical structure is learned by simple imitation. This was early noticed by researchers, who pointed out that child coinages such as mouses for mice or goned for gone could not have been produced through a process of imitation (for adults do not say such things), but must represent the child's own application of abstract rules already acquired. Furthermore, direct correction and coaching have very little effect, showing the important role of the child's own efforts. Various ways of explaining this internal ability were proposed, most notably CHOMSKY'S argument that children must be credited with an innate language acquisition device: a set of outline principles about the way language is structured and a procedure for discovering the remainder. Investigators such as Piaget argued for the importance of relating the emergence of children's language to their underlying intellectual or cognitive development. Others stressed the importance of analysing the nature of the input presented to them by adult speakers. It is now apparent that each of these factors has a role to play in guiding the course of acquisition, but the nature of their interdependence is far from clear.
2.1.2 Language Acquisition Device
select the best GRAMMAR consistent with the evidence. It has, however, proved difficult to specify and test this theory, and Chomsky has abandoned it in favour of parametric theory, which suggests that children are preprogrammed with some universals but only partially ‘wired’ with others. They have advance knowledge of certain basic language options, but have to discover by experience which occur in the language they are exposed to.
In Chomskyan terminology, they know the parameters along which language can vary, but have to fix their values, perhaps by setting a ‘switch’ in one of two possible positions. According to this theory, languages are similar at deep, eventhough on the surface they appear different.
It has been proposed that humans possess a “Language Acquisition Device.” The “Device” is credited to Dr. Noam Chomsky, who hypothesized that children are born with a special ability to process language through an innate language acquisition device. Other linguists, as scientists, either support Chomsky’s hypothesis or work at disproving it.
meaning listening and attending as the parents, family and others speak and interact with the baby.
When the baby begins to listen to his parents, he will unconsciously recognize the language he is dealing with. The tot will set his parameters to the correct one. He knows intuitively that there are some words that behave like verbs, others like nouns and objects. The child already knows that there is a limited set of possibilities as to their ordering within any phrase. This knowledge is contained in the child’s language acquisition device because the adults in the child’s life either don’t teach, or are incapable of teaching this information to the child.
A tot’s ability to learn a language in the early years is fascinating. At about one year, children are able to understand words, and shortly afterwards are able to speak individual words. At around 18 months, their vocabulary begins to grow impressively, and their grasp of simple syntax is demonstrated in the form of two-word and three-two-word sentences. By three years of age, they can grasp relatively complex rules of grammar.
At around four years of age the soft spot in the child’s skull solidifies as the brain’s metabolism begins slowing. As the child reaches puberty the brain’s metabolism assumes adult levels. This accounts for the apparent decline in the ability to learn a second language after childhood. The language learning circuitry of the teenager is no longer as plastic as in childhood.
them, they make errors unselfconsciously, they are more motivated to communicate, they like to conform, they are not set in their ways, and they have no first language to interfere.
Successful acquisition of language typically happens by four to six years of age. From six years to puberty, the ability is steadily compromised. By the teenage years, changes occur in the maturing brain, with the decline in metabolic rate and number of neurons. With adulthood, the language device is mostly dormant. There is a neurologically determined “critical period” in childhood for successful language acquisition. The ability to comprehend, produce, and manipulate language is probably the single distinguishing characteristic separating humans from other primates. Experiments indicate that chimps and orangutans can react to spoken human language, but only humans internalize and reproduce spoken language (McArthur : www.encyclopedia.com). Observing excavated pottery from burial and ceremonial sites, archaeologists suppose that primitive man probably used language as long as 100,000 years ago.
2.1.3 The Stages of Language Acquisition
about the meaning of words, about the sound the ways in which word combine with one another to form sentences. Lefrancois (1986: 270) claims that there are six sequential stage of the acquisition of language starting from the pre linguistic period to then linguistic period.
1. Pre Speech Stage.
In early of life, Baby begins to vocalize the minute they are born by crying. Crying is infant’s first communications. The infant advances from crying to using language to communicate ideas, experiences, desires, fears, and other feelings. Wolff (1969 in Hall, 1983: 308) says that each infant has three pattern of crying: the basic rhytmical pattern (the hunger cry, the anger cry, and the pain cry). A mother quickly learns to detect these differences in her baby’s cries and responds to them appropriately. For example; in response to pain cry, a mother immediately rushes into the baby’s room.
At approximately 2 months of age, the infant begins to express a new type of vocalization called cooing. Cooing is the term used to the gurgling; squealing sound and mewing sound, which an infant makes when she/he is comfortable, happy or even excited. Although still not considered language, cooing, like crying represents a form of communication. Cooing consist of vowel sounds.
period infants produce a large variety of sounds, many of which do not occur in the language of the household.
2. The Holophrase/The First Word Stage.
Holophrase stage is the stage when the infant utter their first word. Sometime after the sixth month or usually around age 1 or their first birhday, children understand the names that stand for a few people or objects, and produce their first words. Generally, these words are the name of objects, person, even, and action. During this one word stage, infants often use a single word for many purposes, relying on intonation to supply meaning. Children start out by using nouns or labels for object around them. But they soon learn to state demands, such as;”that” of “this!” means “Give me that or this!”. Other words commonly used by children everywhere are “Papa”, “Mama”. Thus although most holophrases are nouns, they are not simply for naming. For example; when a child say “milk”, she/he might mean, “there is the milk”, she/he might also mean “give me some milk”, or “I am thirsty”. Clark et.al, (1977: 302) says that yet a list of the objects that the child’s first word refers to does not tell us much about what the child is talking about. When children say truck, for example, they might be talking about it because it is mover, a moveable, or a place. What is important is the role the truck plays in the event being talk about.
the child has not yet learned the precise referent of a word. Clark (1997), (scientist) gives statement is youngster learns a new words he extends to other features of animals, such us size and sounds, and her concept of “bow-wow” becomes narrower; eventually he will have separate names for all animals. For example; a boy who has learned the word “bow-wow”, may overextend it from dogs. When he learn a new word, say, “moo” for cows. In this case, he has two animal’s names in his vocabulary, “moo” for cows and “bow-wow” for a dog. In this stage a child has able to imitate the animal sounds.
3. The Two Word Sentences (Telegraphic Speech) Stage.
Telegraphic speech is the outcome of the process of language acquisition. It is not the process itself. To understand it, we must penetrate more deeply into what children do.
4. Multiple Word Sentences Stage.
After pass through telegraphic stage, children move to multiple word sentences. This typically occurs around the age of 2 to 2½. In this stage, they begin to assimilate some of the grammatical rules of language, learning to make good sentence. Like two word utterances, multi word sentences are required the use of complete subject and predicates. Both subject and predicate are included in the sentence type. Brown (1973 in Lefrancois, 1986: 273) said that although the child’s speech continues to be somewhat telegraphic after the stage of two word sentences, children now make increasing use of morphemes to express meaning. They include all words, as well as grammatical endings such us –s, -ed and –ing, suffixes, prefixes, articles and so on. For example, the children transform the verbs “go to going”, “jump to jumped” and “eat to eats”. Children appear to learn suffixes (“-ed”, “-ing”, “-s”) more easily than they learn prefixes. Because children who heard the syllable used as a suffix found it meaning easier to learn than children who heard it used as a prefix. In this stages, they have been able to make declarative sentence, such as; “She is a pretty baby”, make a question sentence, such in; “Where Daddy is?”, than make a negative sentence “I no can play” and make an imperative sentence, such as; “I want more milk”.
5. More Complex Sentences Stage.
ability to make meaningful transformations. Children begin a show an understanding of various adult-accepted rules for transforming sentences; they also behave as though they had an implicit understanding of grammatical functions of various words, phrases and clause. Clark et.al, (1977: 355) said that at around three, children begin to use the first complex sentences the combining preposition into clause through coordination, gelatinisation and complementation. They start to link two or more ideas in coordinate sentences like “Susan chooped some wood and Annie put up the tent”. They learn the rules to construct a good sentence. The acquisition of grammar demands not only that children gradually grasp the underlying rules for combining words into sentences, bul also that they understand when to apply the rules.
6. Adult like Structures
In this stage, children have able to know grammatical rules of their language. They are speech as adult speech. They have been able to make conversation to adult. The usually produce a complex structural by using “to be”. In this case, the child has to take account of different forms that express tense, for example, “I am coming”, “he is going”, etc., and they are able to vary using the various forms of “to be” to understanding of person, thing, etc. Children tend to use their parent speech. For example, “I do not eat my breads”, “I do not want a bath”, and “That is not my hat”, etc. Children have been able to utter yes/no question form, such as; what, where, who, why, when, and how. For example; “where are you going?”, “What are you doing?”, “Why are you crying?”, etc.
Growth in language acquisition is considerably influenced by some factors that will determine the development in language acquisition. These factor include sex differences of the child, the intelligence level, family size, socio economic influences and bilingualism.
1. Sex Differences of The Child
A controversial factor that many cause differences in language development is the sex differences of the child. Many investigators have found that girls surpass boys in nearly all aspect of language behaviour, including the length of utterances, comprehension of speech, articulation, the number of the word spoken, the number of different word spoken, amount if the speech, and sentence complexity. Girls seem to be superior to boys in overall language development. Girl’s speech is comprehensible earlier, girl’s uses sentences earlier than boys, and age for age, and they use longer sentences. Their vocabularies are consistency large. In some cases, females are more talkative than males. Most of the differences seem to increase with age. For example; Smith (1926 in Fitzgerald et al, 1982:239) found that at ages two and three, girls had larger vocabularies than boys and that the difference had disappeared by four years of age.
2. The Intelligence Level
Intelligence is probably the most important single factor in language development. There seems little doubt that rates of language acquisition are also closed related to the general intelligence level of the child. Bright children usually begin to talk at an earlier age, acquire vocabularies more rapidly, articulate more efficiently, and use longer and more grammatically correct sentences.
In the same context, the size of family (the number of children) and the position of the child in the family are influential factors. The language behaviour of first–born children does not differ consistently from the second-born children or the third-born children. The spacing of births is one important determinant of whether ordinal position correlates with language performance. If children are closely spaced, parents may find it difficult to distribute the attention equitably. One might expect the children receiving the least adult attention. However, one should not conclude that multiple births in it self is the cause of the slow language development of children. It is difficult for parents to give fairly attention to each of two or three children of identical age as to only one child.
4. Socio Economic Influences
Socio economic level is considerable influence on language growth. Balle (1968) (the scientist) says that parent’s occupational and social level has a direct relationship on language development. Lower-Class parents have a tendency not to talk to their children as much as middle-class parent do. Middle-class and upper class parents like to discuss thing with their children, listen to them, answer their questions and use verbal methods of discipline than are lower-class parents. Children of middle-class an upper middle-class talk earlier, form sentences earlier, and use more mature sentence structure than their lower class.
5. Bilingualism
Standard English or other standard language. Bilingualism is not a problem solely related to language, it might constitute a problem of cultural conflict. For example; Smith (1949 in Fitzgerald et al, 1982: 240) found that only the brightest bilingual children were able to match the vocabulary size of monolingual children. Perhaps bright children have sufficient cognitive facilities to master two labels for each object and two grammatical structures, whereas less bright children are cognitively over whelmed by the demands of learning two languages.
2.2
Children Speech And Communication
2.2.1 Speech Acquisition of Children
The children’s use of language is different from that of adults. The vocabulary is smaller but may also contain words that don’t appear in grown-ups’ speech. The correct inflectional forms of certain words may not have been acquired fully, especially for those words that are exceptions to common rules. Spontaneous speech is also believed to be less grammatical than for adults.
toy; and requesting object activities, for instance more. Those examples show that children
engage communicative acts into their sentences in our society.
In maintaining contact with the other people, as children grow phisically and mentally, they get more skill in using language because they also learn how to do thing with language. According to Clark (2003: 321) children learn to use any form of language for many functions or can be conveyed by many forms, and they learn using the forms to mark their membership in society, to be polite, how to be persuasive, to negotiate to resolve conflict, to distinguish actual event from playing specific functions depending on the speaker, addressee, setting, and preceding conversation.
similar speech acts by learning it from the adults language. The matter in which their language forms are not well grammatically constructed is their relative approximation to the adult languages through their development.
2.2.2
Oral Language of Children
Almost all children learn the rules of their language at an early age through use, and over time, without formal instruction. Thus one source for learning must be genetic. Humans beings are born to speak; they have an innate gift for figuring out the rules of the language used in their environment. The environment itself is also a significant factor. Children learn the specific variety of language (dialect) that the important people around them speak.
Children do not, however, learn only by imitating those around them. We know that children work through linguistic rules on their own because they use forms that adults never use, such as "I goed there before" or "I see your feets." Children eventually learn the conventional forms, "went" and "feet", as they sort out for themselves the exceptions to the rules of English syntax. As with learning to walk, learning to talk requires time for development and practice in everyday situations. Constant correction of a child's speech is usually unproductive.
When children develop abilities is always a difficult question to answer. In general, children say their first words between 12 and 18 months of age. They begin to use complex sentences by the age of 4 to 4 1/2 years. By the time they start kindergarten, children know most of the fundamentals of their language, so that they are able to converse easily with someone who speaks as they do (that is, in their dialect). As with other aspects of development, language acquisition is not predictable. One child may say her first word at 10 months, another at 20 months. One child may use complex sentences at 5 1/2 years, another at 3 years.
Oral language, the complex system that relates sounds to meanings, is made up of three components: the phonological, semantic, and syntactic (Lindfors, 1987). The phonological component involves the rules for combining sounds. Speakers of English, for example, know that an English word can end, but not begin, with an "-ng" sound. We are not aware of our knowledge of these rules, but our ability to understand and pronounce English words demonstrates that we do know a vast number of rules.
The semantic component is made up of morphemes, the smallest units of meaning that may be combined with each other to make up words (for example, "paper" + "s" are the two morphemes that make up "papers"), and sentences (Brown, 1973). A dictionary contains the semantic component of a language, and reflects not just what words make up that language, but also what words (and meanings) are important to the speakers of the language.
become increasingly complex as the child develops. From combining two morphemes, the child goes on to combine words with suffixes or inflections (s" or "-ing", as in "papers" and "eating") and eventually creates questions, statements, commands, etc. She also learns to combine two ideas into one complex sentence, as in "I'll share my crackers if you share your juice." Of course speakers of a language constantly use these three components of language together, usually in social situations.
Some language experts would add a fourth component: pragmatics, which deals with rules of language use. Pragmatic rules are part of our communicative competence, our ability to speak appropriately in different situations, for example, in a conversational way at home and in a more formal way at a job interview. Young children need to learn the ways of speaking in the day care center or school where, for example, teachers often ask rhetorical questions. Learning pragmatic rules is as important as learning the rules of the other components of language since people are perceived and judged based on both what they say and how and when they say it.
2.3
Relevance Study
In completing this thesis, some thesis and previous research will also be consulted that closely related to the writing, they are :
acquisition its sound and sequence well suited with Jakobson universal concept (Jakobson, 1971).
2. Pemerolehan Kalimat Majemuk Bahasa Indonesia Pada Anak Usia Taman Kanak-Kanak. Written by Gustianingsih (2002). This master’s thesis uses
Chomsky’s theory which states that if the children utter repeatedly and permanently, then this phenomena can be used as the evidence of the development and the ability of children language.
3. Pemerolehan Leksikal Bahasa Inggris Pada Anak Usia Prasekolah di Logo Education Centre. Written by Nainggolan (2007). This master’s thesis is a
study of English lexical acquisition of preschool students which is aimed at describing the semantic acquisition, such as word structure, assimilation, substitution, based on Ingram’s theory.
4. An Analysis of One Year Old Children’s Acquisition of Morphemes : A Case Study. Written by Nazmy (2005). In her thesis, she observed a one year old
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Method
Regarding the research method, Bungin (2005 : 40-41) ever said that there are three kinds of research based on the location of the research i.e. library research, laboratory research, and field research. In writing this thesis, the writer applied field research and library research, that is by adapting some theories and information about language acquisition from books, thesis, internet and other sources and also did an observation of the object of the analysis.
This research uses descriptive method. Nazir (1999 : 63) states that “Metode deskriptif adalah suatu metode dalam meneliti status sekelompok manusia, suatu objek, suatu set kondisi, suatu system pemikiran ataupun suatu kelas peristiwa pada masa sekarang.”. Witney (1960) which is not much different to Nazir, once said that descriptive method is fact finding with correct interpretation.
According to Nazir (1999 : 64-65) there are six kinds of method in descriptive research, they are :
- survey method
- continuity descriptive method - case study research
- activity and job analysis research - action research
- library and documentary research
tentang status objek penelitian yang berkenaan dengan suatu fase spesifik atau khas dari keseluruhan personalitas.”
3.2 Data Collecting Method
According to Arikunto (2006 : 223-232) there are five kinds of method in collecting data, i.e. test, questioner, interview, observation, and documentation method. And in this writing, the writer applied observation and documentation method. The writer observed the object of the research, M. Ryanda Huzein, for a month, in October 2008 by recording, tabulating, and grouping the data (child speeches).
In gaining the data, the writer applied the purposive samples as suggested by Arikunto (2006 : 139-140) where it is conducted by collecting the data based on existence of specific purpose.
This means that, the writer did the observation for a month, observed and recorded the child speech as the population and then selected some of them based on the purpose as the samples of this research.
3.3 Data Analyzing Method
CHAPTER IV
THE ANALYSIS OF CHILDREN SPEECH ACQUISITION IN
DAILY COMMUNICATION
4.1 Analysis of The Data
The writer have collected the data and have found some results about the five year old child speech. He can create such long sentences including complex and compound sentences. His language competence keep growing time to time.
For more detail explanation, we can see some findings of this research below : 1. Can use many descriptive words spontaneously-both adjective and adverb. (Ryanda is watching television and see a scene then gives comment about the film) S : Ryanda nonton apa?
R : Itu kak, tadi ada orang jahatnya. Dia suka marah-marah.
2. Knows common opposite.
R : Kak, Yanda punya mainan dua, satu besar satu kecil. S : Oooh…jadi kalo lawannya besar apa dek?
R : Kecil lah…kayak mainan Yanda yang ini (showing the little one)
R : Bang Amer tinggi ya kak… S : Iya, kan udah besar.
R : Berarti kalo masih kecil rendah ya kayak Yanda.
3. Be able to repeat sentences as long as nine words.
(Ryanda is drawing a view on his drawing sheet, then his mother comes and
asking him question)
M : Ryanda sedang apa?
R : Ini gambar pemandangan Ma, banyak pohon-pohonnya, tapi rumahnya cuma satu.
M : Apa Nda..?
R : Yanda lagi gambar pemandangan, banyak pohon-pohonnya, tapi rumahnya cuma satu.
From the conversation above, the writer can conclude that Ryanda is able to repeat sentences as long as nine words or even more than that.
4. Be able to define common objects in terms of use.
(Ryanda is preparing to go to school, and he is wearing his shoes)
S : Yanda kalau sekolah harus pake sepatu ya…
R : Iya kak, semuanya pake sepatu, kawan-kawan Yanda juga pake sepatu. S : Yanda tau sepatu itu apa?
R : Ini ni sepatu (lift up his foot and show his shoes)
Supaya kaki Yanda gak jorok kalo main-main, trus gak luka kalau terinjak batu.
(Mother is sitting on the floor while Ryanda is sitting on the chair. They are
watching television)
M : Yanda, sini sama mama di bawah.
R : Kursi kan tempat duduk ma, jadi kalau duduk ya di kursi lah…
There are so many common objects at home, and Ryanda be able to define some of them in terms of use. It is showed by the conversation above. Ryanda defines shoes and chair in terms of their common use.
5. Has simple time concepts: morning, afternoon, night, day, later, after, tomorrow, yesterday, today.
R : Ma, besok pagi Yanda mau dianterin sekolah sama Papa ya…
R : Ma, si Kemal katanya mau datang nanti sore.
R : Nanti siap makan, abis tu Yanda main Transformer ya kak...
R : Kak, kata ibu guru Yanda hari ini gak sekolah, guru-guru mau rapat.
M : Yanda coba tengok ke luar. R : Kenapa Ma?
M : Udah gelap kan?
R : Iya, berarti udah malam ya Ma?
Ryanda already has time concepts as we see from above. He can differ morning, day, afternoon, night, today, tomorrow and later.
In his daily communication, Ryanda often uses some of the time concepts above, to help him to express and explore what he is going to say to other people.
6. The development of compound and complex sentences.
R : Mainan Yanda yang baru disimpan aja, nanti kalau adik Abi datang dia nggak mainin mainan baru Yanda, biar nggak cepat rusak.
R : Megatronnya hebat kali, dia punya senjata rahasia waktu ngalahin Decepticon, paten senjatanya kak, teknologinya hebat.
R : Kakak nggak boleh kesini, ini daerah kekuasaan Yanda, ini kan udah Yanda bikin petak, berarti nggak ada yang boleh masuk ke petak Yanda; kalo Kakak mau buatlah petak sendiri.
Eventhough, his ability to create compound and complex sentences sometimes grammatically incorrect. The use of coordinate conjunction in coordinative compound sentence such as and is not clearly appear. It seems that Ryanda still uses pause or other conjunctor to substitute this coordinator. Here are some examples :
R : Kakak gambar dinosaurus yg leher panjang (without ‘dan’) Yanda dinosaurus yang gigi runcing.
R : Tadi di sekolah Yanda main kejar-kejaran. Si Dendi ngejar trus(it should be ’dan’) Yanda lari.
R : Papa yang nganter ya, (without ‘dan’) kakak yang jemput.
a principle which states that the closest noun with the verb in complement subordinate sentence is the subject of the verb. So, in English sentences :
- John asked Mary to water the plant - John told Mary to water the plant
The one who waters the plant is Mary, because, according to MDP, Mary is the closest noun with the verb water in subordinate sentence. This MDP is also used for some other verbs such as order, persuade, and advise. But this principle has the exception.
- John promised Mary to water the plant.
In the sentence above, the one who water the plant is not Mary but John-noun which far from the verb water. England children thought that in that sentence the one who water the plant is still Mary, not John.
But Ryanda in his native language does not found difficulty like this. These are some conversation with Ryanda :
M : Yanda, kalau Mama nyuruh Yanda ambil buku, yang ambil buku siapa? R : Yanda
S : Kalau Papa janji sama Yanda mau beliin mainan, yang beli mainan siapa? R : Papa.
S : Kalau Yanda minta Kakak datang ke sekolah, yang ke sekolah siapa? R : Kakak
At this age, a child has been able to tell connected story by using his own way and speech. By seeing a picture, Ryanda is able to verbalize what he saw, and to connect one story to another from the picture. He is also able to seeing relationships between objects and happenings.
Here are some conversations which prove the finding above : (Ryanda is seeing a picture from a children magazine)
M : Ryanda lagi lihat apa?
R : Gambar naruto Ma, ini kan si Narutonya waktu mau melawan Akatsuki. Dia pergi sama Jiraiya dan Sakura mau mencari Sasuke, trus di tengah jalan rupanya ketemu sama Itachi dari Akatsuki. Si Itachi ini rupanya abang si Sasuke. Jadi orang ini bertarung, si Narutonya ngeluarin jurus Rasengan, ini ma jurusnya kan ada kayak cahaya-cahaya dari tangannya. Ini dia gambarnya.
(Ryanda is coming back from school)
M : Belajar apa aja Yanda tadi di sekolah? R : Nulis, Berhitung.
Ma tadi kan pas pulang sekolah Yanda main sama Kemal sama Dendi di depan mesjid. Kami gak nengok-nengok rupanya udah pulang semua orang, gak ada lagi yang di sekolah. Trus dipanggil sama Bu Ani “Yanda...Dendi...Kemal...!’’, datanglah kami, trus kami tanya “ada apa Bu?” abis tu dibilang Bu Ani “ Udah pulang”
M : Loh, jadi kalian?
R : Iya, semuanya udah pulang tinggal kami yang belum...
communication. He substitutes the conjunction kemudian (then), lalu and setelah itu (after that), with other words which have similar meaning such as trus and habis itu.
4.2
Interrogative, Negative, and Imperative Sentences
4.2.1
Interrogative Sentences
Ryanda is a typical talkative child. He often talks to others, and has curiousity that he wants to know more. Asking question is one of his ways to express his curiousity.
- Yes/No Question
R : Ma, Papa jadi pergi hari ini? M : Ya jadi
R : Kakak beliin Yanda mainan? S : Nggak Dek.
R : Yanda boleh main disitu Ma?
- Non-Yes/No Question
At his age Ryanda has so many things to ask, and to express it he uses non-yes/no question by using some question words. Here are some findings :
R : Ini apa?
R : Celana siapa ini? R : Papa mau kemana?
R : Dimana Kakak simpan mainan Yanda? R : Kapan kita perginya Ma?
R : Gimana cara bukanya kak?
- Taq Question
R : Kakak di rumah aja kan? R : Ini untuk Yanda kab Ma? R : Nggak Abang makan ini kan?
4.2.2
Negative Sentences
Ryanda has able to use the negative sentences. S : Yanda nggak jadi beli pensilnya?
R : Nggak, Abang itu nggak jualan tadi.
M : Ini buku siapa Nda ? R : bukan punya Yanda.
4.2.3
Imperative Sentences
R : Kak, jangan di makan ya kentucky Yanda ! R : Tolong ambilin lah mainan Yanda di situ ! R : Bukain Kak !
Ryanda signals his politeness to a person by using the polite word such as tolong or with the polite asking sentence for example :
(Ryanda is trying to open up a bottle of tea)
R : Yanda kepayahan ini, tolonglah kak bukain...
(Ryanda is trying to reach his book)
S : Yanda ngapain ?
R : Uh...Eh...(jumping), bisa nggak Kakak nolongin Yanda ngambilin buku Yanda di situ ?
On the situation above, Ryanda used the interrogative sentence to make his imperative more polite. That’s one of his polite ways.
4.3
Discussion
As children gain more mastery over their language skills, they become more sophisticated in their conversational abilities. A 4- to 5-year-old child follows complex directions and enthusiastically talks about things that happen to him. He can make up stories, listen attentively to stories and retell stories himself.
Children ages 4 to 5 are also able to understand that letters and numbers are symbols of real things and ideas, “write” as a way to tell stories and offer information, and “read” on their own.
Sentence structures now incorporate up to eight words, while vocabulary is between 1,000 and 2,000 words. Ninety percent of the time, speech should be clearly intelligible; although there may be some developmental sound errors and stuttering, particularly among boys.
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
5.1
Conclusions
Based on the findings of the research, it is concluded that Ryanda has knowledge of the speech act and his speech development has already increase, which he uses in his communicative interaction with the people around him. The typical speech developments which Ryanda already has includes the ability to tell story about a picture, seeing relationships between objects and happenings, using compound and complex sentences, having simple time concepts: morning, afternoon, night, day, later, after, tomorrow, yesterday, today, be able to define common objects in terms of use, be able to repeat sentences as long as nine words, knows common opposite.
For his daily communication he also be able to use any kinds of sentences such as interrogative, negative, and imperative sentences to express his intention to the people around him in his daily communication. In showing his curiosity, he can use both of typical interrogative sentences, yes/no question and wh question or sentence which use the question words. Other finding is Ryanda has been able to use the polite form to express his intention to give commands or other. He sometimes combines verbal actions such as pointing at something or holding it to communicate his intention.
5.2
Suggestions
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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APPENDICES
Appendix 1
M. RYANDA HUZEIN
Language Development Chart
Age of
Child
Typical Language Development
6 Months
Vocalization with intonation Responds to his name
Responds to human voices without visual cues by turning his head and eyes
Responds appropriately to friendly and angry tones
12 Months
Uses one or more words with meaning (this may be a fragment of a word) Understands simple instructions, especially if vocal or physical cues are given
Practices inflection
Is aware of the social value of speech
18 Months
Has vocabulary of approximately 5-20 words Vocabulary made up chiefly of nouns
Some echolalia (repeating a word or phrase over and over) Much jargon with emotional content
Is able to follow simple commands
24 Months
Can name a number of objects common to his surroundings
Is able to use at least two prepositions, usually chosen from the following: in, on, under
Combines words into a short sentence-largely noun-verb combinations (mean) length of sentences is given as 1.2 words
Approximately 2/3 of what child says should be intelligible Vocabulary of approximately 150-300 words
Rhythm and fluency often poor
Volume and pitch of voice not yet well-controlled
Can use two pronouns correctly: I, me, you, although me and I are often confused
My and mine are beginning to emerge
Responds to such commands as "show me your eyes (nose, mouth, hair)"
36 Months
Use pronouns I, you, me correctly Is using some plurals and past tenses
Knows at least three prepositions, usually in, on, under
Knows chief parts of body and should be able to indicate these if not name
Handles three word sentences easily Has in the neighborhood of 900-1000 words About 90% of what child says should be intelligible Verbs begin to predominate
Understands most simple questions dealing with his environment and activities
Relates his experiences so that they can be followed with reason Able to reason out such questions as "what must you do when you are sleepy, hungry, cool, or thirsty?"
Should be able to give his sex, name, age
Should not be expected to answer all questions even though he understands what is expected
48 Months
Knows names of familiar animals
of their meaning when given commands
Names common objects in picture books or magazines Knows one or more colors
Can repeat 4 digits when they are given slowly Can usually repeat words of four syllables Demonstrates understanding of over and under
Has most vowels and diphthongs and the consonants p, b, m, w, n well established
Often indulges in make-believe
Extensive verbalization as he carries out activities
Understands such concepts as longer, larger, when a contrast is presented
Readily follows simple commands even thought the stimulus objects are not in sight
Much repetition of words, phrases, syllables, and even sounds
60 Months
Can use many descriptive words spontaneously-both adjectives and adverbs
Knows common opposites: big-little, hard-soft, heave-light, etc Has number concepts of 4 or more
Can count to ten
Speech should be completely intelligible, in spite of articulation problems Should have all vowels and the consonants, m,p,b,h,w,k,g,t,d,n,ng,y (yellow)
Should be able to repeat sentences as long as nine words
Should be able to define common objects in terms of use (hat, shoe, chair)
Should be able to follow three commands given without interruptions Should know his age
Should have simple time concepts: morning, afternoon, night, day, later, after, while
Tomorrow, yesterday, today
Should be using fairly long sentences and should use some compound and some complex sentences
Speech on the whole should be grammatically correct
6 Years
In addition to the above consonants these should be mastered: f, v, sh, zh, th,1
He should have concepts of 7
Speech should be completely intelligible and socially useful
Should be able to tell one a rather connected story about a picture, seeing relationships
Between objects and happenings
7 Years
Should have mastered the consonants s-z, r, voiceless th, ch, wh, and the soft g as in George
Should handle opposite analogies easily: girl-boy, man-woman, flies-swims, blunt-sharp short-long, sweet-sour, etc
Understands such terms as: alike, different, beginning, end, etc Should be able to tell time to quarter hour
Should be able to do simple reading and to write or print many words
8 Years
Can relate rather involved accounts of events, many of which occurred at some time in the past
Complex and compound sentences should be used easily
Should be few lapses in grammatical constrictions-tense, pronouns, plurals
compositions
Social amenities should be present in his speech in appropriate situations Control of rate, pitch, and volume are generally well and appropriately established
