DEVINA ADINDA (0813042026)

Devina Adinda

0813042026

English Education Department 2008 Reg.

SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

BABY  TALK

I.                    Introduction

1.1  Background

Children acquire language through interaction - not only with their parents and other adults, but also with other children. All normal children who grow up in normal households, surrounded by conversation, will acquire the language that is being used around them. And it is just as easy for a child to acquire two or more languages at the same time, as long as they are regularly interacting with speakers of those languages.

Baby talk is more effective than regular speech in getting an infant's attention. Studies have shown that infants actually prefer to listen to this type of speech. Some researchers, including Rima Shore (1997), believe that baby talk is an important part of the emotional bonding process between the parents and their child that help the infants learn the language. More than one language can also be learned because eventually, the child will be clever enough to differentiate the languages. It is easier to learn languages as an infant than as an adult. Other researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Wisconsin confirm that using basic “baby talk” helps babies pick up words faster than usual. Therefore, tudying baby talk is important to know the interaction between children and the adults.

1.2  The Formulation of the Problem

How do the characteristics of baby talk occur in the interaction between mother (adult) and the child?

1.3  Objectives

The objective of this research is to identify the characteristics of baby talk in the interaction between mother (adult) and the child.

II.                 Frame of Theories

2.1  Definition of Baby Talk

Baby talk, also referred to as caretaker speech, infant-directed speech (IDS) or child-directed speech (CDS) and informally as "motherese", "parentese", "mommy talk", or "daddy talk" is a nonstandard form of speech used by adults in talking to toddlers and infants. It is usually delivered with a "cooing" pattern of intonation different from that of normal adult speech: high in pitch, with many glissando variations that are more pronounced than those of normal speech. Baby talk is also characterized by the shortening and simplifying of words. Baby talk is similar to what is used by people when talking to their pets (pet-directed speech), and between adults as a form of affection, intimacy, bullying or condescension.

2.2  Characteristics of Baby Talk    

Pica (1994) summarises that compared to the speech addressed to adults, mothers’ speech to their children or adults’ speech to the children have the following characteristics:

a.)    It has shorter, more complete sentence.

b.)    The syntax is simplified through use of fewer subordinate clauses and coordinate constructions.

c.)    The vocal pitch was higher and its range was wider.

d.)    The articulation was more precise with more audible distinction between voiced and voiceless consonants.

e.)    The speaking rate was slower.

f.)      Phonological features were simplified.

g.)    Attention to the here and now.

h.)    The use of self reference through kinship terms instead of pronoun of their children.

i.)      Mother expands what her child said.

j.)      Mother’s repetition of her own words.

This 'baby talk' has some characteristics:

a.)    It has simpler vocabulary and sentence structure than adult language.

b.)    It exaggerated intonation and sounds.

c.)    It has lots of repetition and questions.

All of these features help the child to sort out the meanings, sounds, and sentence patterns of his or her language.

Verbally gifted children often go through these stages more quickly than other children. Some go through the stages so quickly that they seem to skip right over some of them. It is not unusual for a gifted child to babble and coo and then be relatively silent. By age one they are not mimicking words and by age two they are not using even simple sentences. They may be saying "ma-ma" and "da-da," and a few other words, but not much more. Then suddenly, at 26 months, the child begins speaking in complete, grammatically correct sentences like a three-year-old. Other verbally gifted kids may be using sentences like “Me cookie” at age one. And some six-year-old gifted kids are using sentences like “I still love my Grammy even though she doesn’t know how to use the computer.” The advanced language development of gifted kids may be one of the reasons that some of them are able to learn how to read before they turn five or even before they turn three.

III.               The Research and Findings

3.1  Subject

This taping was held on April 15^th 2011. The child’s name is Ruben Yoga Pratama (Uben). He is researcher’s cousin. Uben is two and a half years old. The taping was held three times. First taping is a conversation between Uben and the researcher, second taping is also a conversation between Uben and the researcher, and third taping is a conversation between Uben and his mother.

3.2  The Transcript

First conversation

It is a conversation between Uben and the researcher at the living room. Uben tells about his experience going to the mall.

Uben    : Mami Eka, Mba Piping, Mba Eci, Mba Iya…

Me       : hmmm..

Uben    : Mami, Papi, Ubeng

Me       : ooo… trus Uben takut nggak naeknya?

Uben    : nggak. Tia’a diajak

Me       : diajak? Diajak sama siapa? Sama Mami?

Uben    : hmmm.. cama… Mba Piping juga cama mba Iya

Me       : trus Uben difoto nggak?

Uben    : hmmm..

Me       : ooo… difoto

Uben    : cama Papi

Me       : sama Papi?

Uben    : nggak… cama Mba Piping

Me       : ooo… sama Mba Pipin juga. Trus Uben berani naek dingdongnya?

Second conversation

It is a conversation between Uben and the researcher at researcher’s house. Uben talks about the pictures he made.

Uben    : nih bayong, Mba

Me       : bisa?

Uben    : bayong Mba, nih…

Me       : trus?

Uben    : bukang, ini anaknya

Me       : ini?

Uben    : ini anaknya, ini mamanya, ini ayahnya, ini anaknya…

Me       : koq dua?

Uben    : iya

Me       : ini?

Uben    : anaknya juga. Ini anaknya juga ini…

Third conversation

It is a conversation between Uben and his mother when Uben tries to color the coloring book.

Uben    : Uben bica

Mother: bisa lah… tuh, nih bisa

Uben    : yang ini jeyek

Mother: warnanya biru memang

Uben    : ini juga

Mother: ya udah terserah Uben warnaya apa

Uben    : matanya…

Mother: ijonya tiga warna ya? Bagus juga ya

Uben    : nih, matanya ceyem nih. Kaya’ cinga

Mother: (talks to the researcher) ya, Pin? Sekarang 120.000 kali harganya.

Topi biru

            Uben    : ini jeyek

            Mother: warna pink

            Uben    : wana Mba Piping (laughing)

            Mother: pink.. ha.. ha.. (laughing) iya. Sama bajunya ya?

            Uben    : iya

            Mother: sama Uben juga warnanya sama. Ini merah, red, coba?

            Uben    : Ubeng ga bica. Ini bica Mba.. (lies down)

            Mother: ya udah sambil bobo’an

            Uben    : Ubeng mau cucu

3.3  Analysis

From first conversation between Uben and the researcher, there are some characteristics of baby talk.

Uben is already able to give respond to the person he talks to.

e.g.       Me       : ooo… trus Uben takut nggak naeknya?

Uben    : nggak. Tia’a diajak

            He also answers some questions with short answers.

e.g.       Me       : trus Uben difoto nggak?

Uben    : hmmm..

From second conversation between Uben and the researcher, there are some characteristics of baby talk.

He uses repetitions in speaking.

e.g.       Uben    : nih bayong, Mba

Me       : bisa?

Uben    : bayong Mba, nih…

Me       : ini?

Uben    : anaknya juga. Ini anaknya juga ini…

He also uses simple words to answer some questions.

e.g.       Me       : koq dua?

Uben    : iya

The adults (researcher) uses simple words to talk to the child.

e.g.       Me       : bisa?

            Me       : trus?

            Me       : ini?

From third conversation between Uben and his mother, there are some characteristics of baby talk.

The mother uses self reference through kinship terms instead of pronoun of the child.

e.g.       Mother : ya udah terserah Uben warnaya apa

            Mother : sama Uben juga warnanya sama. Ini merah, red, coba?

The mother repeats her words to the child.

e.g.       Mother : bisa lah… tuh, nih bisa

The mother simplifies her phonological features. She says “bobo’an” for “tiduran”.

e.g.       Mother : ya udah sambil bobo’an

IV.              Conclusion

From the analysis above, it can be conclude that about 90 % of the characteristics summarized by Pica can be found in the dialogues. It was done naturally by the adults when speak with children or mothers when speak with their children in order to help the children easier to understand what they mean. So, the characteristic summarized by Pica is definitely true.