Infant Language Acquisition (A Case Study on Bilingualism)
1Fajrinur*
1*Economic and business Faculty, Islamic National University of Indonesia, Bireuen, Indonesia
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to describe a language development at a very young age. The method of the study was descriptive method. The data was collected from NR who was 1.2 years old girl. In collecting the data, the researcher observed her interaction at home and interviewed NR and her mother. Every word the researchers understand from her was written down, described, and classified. From the data, the researcher concluded that NR understood and spoke both languages equally. She used the same amount of words from both Bahasa Indonesia and Acehnese. She also showed the ability to differentiate between the two languages when she talked. She can easily switch from one language to another depend on who she was taking to. This shows an early sign of bilingualism.
Keywords: Infant; Language; Acquisition; Bilingualism
A. Introduction
Infants learn to understand language before they begin to speak.
Communication begins shortly after birth when the infant realizes crying brings comfort, food, love, and all the other needs the infant relies on adults to provide (Gavin, 2019). Infant learns to communicate by speaking, and develop the ability to use language progressively; started from babbling, using words, mastering pronunciation, syntax, and morphology (Gass & Selinker, 2001).
Children are born with ability to be bilingual or multilingual (Baker, 2000). This ability will be developed later based on exposure to languages from different language learning environment (Houwer, 2021). Aceh, in particular, is a region with several societies and has various languages as mother tongue, such as Acehnese, Jameenese, Gayonese, Alas, Tamiangese, Kluet, Singkil, Simeulue, and Sigulai (Nurdin, 2019). Child born in Aceh is most likely to be bilingual; mastering two languages or more, usually Acehnese and Bahasa Indonesia. A child learns a language mostly by exposure to it in society, which usually from parents, grandparents, and daycare. (Bowen, 1998; Hutauruk, 2015).
Thus, the phenomenon where child acquire language is what interested the writer to write about children language acquisition. The purpose of this study was to observe the bilingualism of NR; a 1.2 years old girl, and to especially answer the research questions stated below.
1. What language does NR knows and speaks the most?
2. Did she address each member of the family with the language they use the most?
Similar studies have been done previously by several researchers.
The first study was conducted by Yusuf (2009) which focused on an acquisition of early bilingualism in English, Acehnese, and Bahasa Indonesia of Kaisah from age 1.5 to 1.7 years old. The study showed that at the age of 1.7 years old, the toddler had an ability to understand and recognize the distinctions of sounds between the three languages. She also sometimes easily switched from one language to another depended on the interlocutor. The second study was conducted by Noermanzah (2015), who examined a 1.4 year-old boy early bilingualism of two languages; Bahasa Indonesia and Bengkulu. The results of this research emphasized on the child ability to use vowels and consonants into words.
The child also knew more than 40 words in both languages, although sometimes the structure of the words was not intact, but he understood the meaning.
This study focuses on child’s ability to use words from two languages, namely Bahasa Indonesia and Acehnese. NR, the respondent in this research is younger than the respondent in the previous studies.
Additionally, this study was conducted within a shorter time, compared to previous studies since the emphasis of this study was on one stage of NR language development instead of the process of the language development as described by Yusuf (2009).
B. Method
The design of this study was descriptive method. The data was collected from NR who is 1.2 years old. She lives in Meunasah Capa, Bireuen with her family. She did not attend daycare center or playgroup yet.
She learned language mostly from the family members. They are her mother, her father, her grandmother, her grandfather, and her uncle. In interacting with NR, her family used two languages; Acehnese and Bahasa Indonesia.
She just began to speak several words in Acehnese and Bahasa Indonesia.
Most of her words were still babbling. Only some of them are understandable.
In collecting the data, the researcher used observation and interview, in which the researcher observed her interaction at home with her family and asked six questions to NR and two question to her mother in the interview.
Every word the researchers understand from her was written down. The observation was conducted on September 26th, while the interview was conducted on September 27th of 2021.
The data that were collected through interview was recorded by using audio recorder. It was transcribed by hand to computer in order to facilitate in analyzing the data. The data from interview were analyzed using the steps proposed by Miles and Huberman (1984). The steps include data reduction, data display, and drawing and verifying conclusions. The data from observation was analyzed using descriptive qualitative. Lastly, a reasonable conclusion was drawn. Meanwhile, the data were also verified by relating them to the research questions.
C. Research Findings
The researcher collected the data using two instruments,
1. Data from Interview a. Interview with NR
The researcher asked NR simple questions related to her daily life.
The data collection was done in a friendly environment, where NR was accompanied by her mother. The first question was answered using Bahasa Indonesia as can be seen at excerpt 1.
Excerpt 1
R : NR anak sapa? (Whose kid are you?) NR : Mama papa (mommy and daddy)
NR’s mother informed the researcher that NR’s favorite song was
“Cicak Cicak di Dinding”. Then the researcher asked NR to sing the song. At first, she didn’t understand the researcher’s request, but when the researcher started to sing the song, NR understood and seemed to be excited to follow singing the song together. Eventhough she could not sing the the song, she knew the end of the word and tried to sing, indicating that NR are able to remember song in Bahasa Indonesia.
Excerpt 2
R : Coba nyanyi lagu Cicak di Dinding! (Can you sing “Cicak di Dinding”?) R : cicak.. cicak di dinding, diam-diam mera...
NR : yap (refer to “merayap” means crawl in Bahasa Indonesia) R : datang seekor nyamuk.
NR : hap..(eating sound; part of the song) R : lalu di tang...
NR : kap (refer to “ditangkap” means catched in Bahasa Indonesia)
The third question was answered by using imitation of cat’s voice.
She understand that the researcher asked about the cat in Bahasa Indonesia, so she immitates the cat’s voice instead of showing or pointing where the cat is.
Excerpt 3
R : Mana kucing dek? (Where is the cat?) NR : auw... ( immitate the cat’s voice)
The fourth question was answered by using Bahasa Indonesia. This was the question she regularly heard from her family, and she always answeredd “umah” (refer to “rumah” means house in Bahasa indonesia), eventhough her mom was right beside her or even when she was not at home.
Excerpt 4
R : Mama mana dek? (Where is your mom?) NR : Umah
The last questions were also answered in Bahasa Indonesia Excerpt 5
R : Ini siapa ?( Who is it? *Pointed at grandma) NR : Nenek ( means grandmother in Bahasa Indonesia) R : Ini siapa (Who is it? *Pointed at a six years old neighbor) NR : Tatak (refer to “kakak” means older sister in Bahasa Indonesia)
b. Interview with NR’s Mother
The first question asked was about the language NR used the most at home. Apparently, NR used both Bahasa Indonesia and Acehnese at home.
She used Bahasa Indonesia with her mom and her father and her uncle, but with her grandmother and her grandfather she used Acehnese.
Excerpt 6
R : Dirumah NR paling banyak pakai bahasa apa? (What language NR used the most at home?)
M : Dua duanya, dengan saya dan suami NR pakai Bahasa Indonesia, kalau dengan nenek dan kakek dia pakai Bahasa Aceh. Sama omnya juga dia pakai Bahasa Indonesia. (NR used both languages (Acehnese and Bahasa Indonesia). With me and my husband, she used Bahasa Indonesia, with my mother and my father (NR’s grandparents), she used Acehnese.
With her uncle, she also used Bahasa Indonesia.)
The second question was about whether or not NR addressed each member of the family with the language they use the most.
Excerpt 7
sering mereka gunakan? (Does she address each member of the family with the language they use the most?
M : Ya, biasanya kalau neneknya makan dia akan bilang, “bu”, sedangkan kalau
melihat saya makan dia akan bilang “mam”. Dan juga ketika dia lihat ayahnya mau pergi, dia akan bilang "jak", tapi ketika dia melihat pamannya pergi, dia bilang "kot". (Yes, usually when her grandmother eats she will say,
“bu” ( means rice in Acehnese), meanwhile when she sees me eating she would say “mam”. And also when she sees her father is ready to go, she would say “jak” but when she sees her uncle go, she would say “kot”. (refer to “ikut” means take me with you.)
2. Data from Observation
Below were several examples of words used by NR in her daily life.
The data showed that NR used Acehnese most of the time.
1. When she looks at water, she will say “i” ( “i” refers to “air” means water in Acehnese)
2. When she looks at her father ready to go, she will say “jak” ( means go in Acehnese)
3. When she looks at Doraemon doll, she will say ”lala” ( because
“la..la..la..” is part of the lyrics of Doraemon song.)
4. when she looks at her family eating, she will say “ bu” (means rice in and “ap” means putting food to your mouth, both in Acehnese) 5. when she looks at something dirty, she will say “aak” (means dirty in
Acehnese)
6. When she wants something, she will say “mbek” (refer to “ambil”
means take in Bahasa Indonesia)
7. When she asks for something, she will say “bie” (means give in Acehnese)
8. When she hears motorcycle’s sound, she will say “ngeng” (refer to motorcycle sound)
9. She can say “han ek” (means “no”) to something which she dislikes.
10. She can also say “ndak da” when she is looking for something but she can not find it. ( refers to “tidak ada” means not here)
11. When she sees duck, she will say “bek” ( refers to “bebek” means duck)
D. Discussion
From the finding, it can be concluded that NR used both languages;
Bahasa Indonesia and Acehnese interchangeably. In the data from NR’s interview she used Bahasa Indonesia. Meanwhile data from observation showed that she mostly used Acehnese. There was no preference or partiality. Hence, to answer the first research question; there was no language that NR used the most. She used the same amount of words from both languages.
The development of language acquisition of all children occurs gradually through interaction with people and the environment (Bowen, 1998). Therefore, NR’s language development was affected by her enviroment and motherese. Her mother speaks Bahasa Indonesia while her grandmother speaks Acehnese, so she understands and speaks both languages. In addition, Noermanzah (2015) also agrees that most of the words the child obtained are directly related to the experience that happened everyday especially with regard to the primary needs of the child and bilingual language environment.
The second research question is asking whether she addresses each member of the family with the language they use the most or not. The result shows that NR had the ability to differentiate between the two languages. She usually used Bahasa Indonesia with her mother and her uncle, and uses Acehnese with her grandmother. Some of the words she spoke were result of imitation from her family. Yusuf’s (2009) research also shows that a 1.7 years old Kaisah was starting to understand and recognize the distinctions of sounds between the three languages her family uses. So even NR is younger, she already developed the ability to use two languages interchangeably.
This short study is not to generalize or measure the children language development, because every child developed at his\her own pace physically and intellectually. This research only tries to describe NR’s stage of language development at a very young age. It can be seen from the way NR used both languages that she experienced no difficulty to switch from one language to another, so exposing toddler to more than one language is not harmful.
Several experts even considered exposing children to more than one language at a very young age is beneficial later on when they grow older.
Baker (2000) states that bilingualism can have communication advantages, cultural advantages, cognitive advantages, and character advantage.
E. Conclusion
From the data, the researcher concludes that NR understands and speaks both languages equally. Her language development is affected by her enviroment and motherese. Her mother speaks Bahasa Indonesia while her grandmother speaks Acehnese. Some of the words she speaks are the result of imitation from her family.
She also shows the ability to differentiate between the two languages when she talks. She can easily switch from one language to another depend on who she is taking to. She uses Acehnese when talking to her grandmother and switch to Bahasa Indonesia easily when talking to her mother or father.
References
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