CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Study
Human being is the most complicated creature compared with the others. There
are a lot of systems involved or used by them. One of those systems is a language
that is known as a way for human to communicate among the others. Language is
also known as a medium in delivering ideas, thus it can also be stated that language
is a symbolization of taught.
Dardjowidjoyo (2000) stated that children’s language develops from the age of
0 to 11 years old. Some parents have not understood about this, therefore many
parents still do not know what they should do to facilitate their children in learning words. The lack of parents’ understanding about this crucial for their children in
learning language, causes some delays in children phonological acquisition
compared with their peers. In pronouncing some phonemes, children have
difficulties, although in the end they will be able to pronounce the intended
phonemes. Practically, children will have obstacle in pronouncing some words, for
example in pronouncing phoneme /r/ (vibrate), that even in certain cases, there are
some adults who are not be able to pronounce that phoneme. That case should not
happen if parents continuously teach and train the pronunciation of vibrated phoneme
to their children in their early age. While theoretically, children’s language ability is
contaminated by other problems in their life. There is a close relation between the
developments of children language with their neurology and biological growth.
It can be noted that a child seems to have their own word by simplifying adult’s
word, whenever they got difficulty in pronouncing the adult’s word. Though child’s
word is different from adult’s word, yet they share the same meaning that an adult
and a child are still able to communicate to each other. The writer is interested in
investigating this phonological acquisition through the word production of a child.
The writer decides to observe and investigate two year old child since it is
stated that most children begin to produce recognizable words at the same points in
the second year. Before this age, children pass through a period in which speech like
sounds are produced, with no obvious link to words in the adult language (Gillen,
2003). It is also believed that second years is a golden phase for a child in learning
and developing their language.
In this thesis, the writer chooses two children as the subjects. Both of them are
two years old (in the range of 2.0-2.10). They are Aqila Aisyah Zhafira Irvia and
Dzaki Aslam Gustara Hsb. Zhafira is the third daughter in her family. She was born on 28 February 2013. Her father is a doctor and her mother is a housewife. Both of
her parents are Javanese. She is a quiet girl. She lives in an environment where most
of her friends are Chinese. Meanwhile, Dzaki is the only one son in his family. He
was born on 4 September 2012. His father is a prosecutor and his mother is a
stewardess, but spends most of her time as a housewife. Both of his parents are
Bataknese. He is a cheery boy. He lives in an environment where all of his friends
Dzaki has more time with his mother as he is the one and only child in his family,
while Zhafira has one brother and one sister and it makes Zhafira can interact more
with other children in her house.
In analyzing and explaining the case, the writer will use First Language
Acquisition and Children Language Development especially phonological
acquisition. This thesis uses David Ingram’s theory (1989) to describe phonological
process which occurs in a child, called phonological process theory. It is also stated
that this process consists of a universal set of hierarchically ordered procedures used
by children to simplify speech (Fletcher and Garman, 1986). In other book, Ingram
also stated that children acquire phonological system of adult by creating their own structure, and later on change it if their knowledge about adult’s phonological system
is getting better (Chaer, 2003).
According to Ingram, phonological process includes Substitution process,
Assimilation process, and Syllable structure process. Through that phonological
process theory, we can then understand how the process of phonological acquisition happens. Besides Ingram’s theory, the writer will also try to analyze sounds that are
produced by the two years old children based on the place and manner of
articulation, as referred to articulatory phonetics. Articulatory phonetics is dealing
with where and how actually sounds are produced in human’s speech organs
(Ladefoged, 1975).
In this study, the writer attempts to find out whether there is a chance to apply
the theory of Ingram regarding the process of phonological acquisition. The writer
Yet the interesting point the writer would like to underline here is the
phonological process regarding the word formation produced by a child. The writer believes that a child’s speeches or pronunciations are different from the one
produced by adult. Below are some basic data that the writer takes from both of the
subjects:
1. Zhafira (2,3 years old / May 2015)
No. Word Utterance Process
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Kelinci Nyamuk Sapi Anjing Beruang Harimau Kucing Kura-kura Kodok Burung
telinci [tǝlinci]
nyamuk [ñamu?]
capi [capi]
anjin [anjin]
buwuang [buwuaŋ]
halimo [halimɔ]
tucing [tuciŋ]
atuwa [atuwa]
todok [tɔdɔ?]
buwung [buwuŋ]
fronting able stopping fronting gliding lateralization fronting
deletion of unstressed syllable, fronting & gliding
fronting
2. Dzaki (2,8 years old / May 2015)
No. Word Utterance Process
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Kelinci Nyamuk Sapi Anjing Beruang Harimau Kucing Kura-kura Kodok Burung kinci [kinci] amuk [amu?] Sapi [sapi] anjin [anjin]
buwuang [buwuaŋ]
halimau [halimau]
kucing [kuciŋ]
akua [akua]
kodok [kɔdɔ?]
bulung [buluŋ]
vocalization
deletion of unstressed syllable
able
Fronting
gliding
lateralization
able
deletion of unstressed syllable
able
lateralization
From the data above we can see how the ability comparison of two year old
child in acquiring and pronouncing some words. By analyzing and understanding the
phonological process occurred in two year old child, the writer expects that people
1.2. Problem of the Study
Based on the background of the study above, the problems discussed in this
thesis are :
1. How are the phonological processes of two year old child in acquiring
Indonesian phoneme?
2. What consonants and vowels that can be and cannot be produced by two year
old child?
1.3. Objective of the Study
In doing the analysis, there are objectives found in this analysis, those are :
1. To describe the phonological processes of two year old child in acquiring
Indonesian phoneme.
2. To find out the consonants and vowels that can be and cannot be produced by
two year old child.
1.4. Scope of the Study
The writer must limit the scope of this study. This thesis focuses on first
This thesis will focus on how actually phonological acquisition process occurs
in two year old child in producing his/her words. The writer uses two children with
some different aspects as the subjects. This thesis is limited to the aim of describing
the phonological process occurs in two year child and finding out the dominant
process of two year old child’s phonological acquisition and it is also limited to the
words which have been selected by the writer.
1.5. Significance of the Study
The writer expects the significance of the study as :
1. This thesis will give knowledge and information for parents and people
around the child regarding how the words and sounds are formed in child’s
language, in order to understand the child when he or she is trying to
communicate with them.
2. Practically, the writer expects that this thesis will be a reference for other
related studies, especially phonological acquisition, and for those who want
