Second Language Acquisiotion
BABY TALK
Selvia Gustina
0853042035
ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
ARTS AND LANGUAGE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION AND PEDAGOGY
UNIVERSITY OF LAMPUNG
2010/2011
I. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Definition of Baby Talk
What is baby talk? Is it how a baby talk to his/her parents or what?
Baby talk referred as caretaker speech, infant-directed speech (IDS) or child-directed speech (CDS) and informally as "motherese", "parentese", or "mommy talk", is a nonstandard form of speech used by adults in talking to toddlers and infants. So, it is the way of the parents or others who is being adult in talking to a baby. It is usually delivered with a "cooing" pattern of different intonation 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.
1.2. How Do Children Acquire Language?
Children acquire language quickly, easily, and without effort or formal teaching. It happens automatically, whether their parents try to teach them or not. Although parents or other caretakers don't teach their children to speak, they do perform an important role by talking to their children. Children who are never spoken to, will not acquire language. And the language must be used for interaction with the child; for example, a child who regularly hears language on the TV or radio but nowhere else will not learn to talk.
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.
The special way in which many adults speak to small children also helps them to acquire language. Studies show that the 'baby talk' that adults naturally use with infants and toddlers tends to always be just a bit ahead of the level of the child's own language development, as though pulling the child along. This 'baby talk' has simpler vocabulary and sentence structure than adult language, exaggerated intonation and sounds, and 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.
II. RESEARCH METHOD
This research was done by the writer on the end of April, 2011. The writer took the record of her cousin with the father. Below is the data of them:
Father’s name: Lison.
Age : 29th years old.
Occupation : Bus driver
Etnical background: Lampungness (Sukau, West Lampung)
Adress : Raja Basa ( Damri atas), Bandar Lampung.
Daughter’s/ baby’s name: Octa Aulia Asy- Syifa
Age/birthday : 2.5 years old/ October, 12th 2008
The writer recorded two dialogues. The first one was recorded when the father taught Syifa to sing a song. The writer decided to record this since it was hard to have a personal dialogue with the baby, Syifa. And the second is that the father asked Syifa to repeat after him what he just said. They pretended to telephone Syifa’s cousin, Raffi.
First term
Mr. Lison: “Satu-satu...potong bebek angsa, Ayo!”
Syifa : “Bebek a....ca...”
Mr. Lison: “Angsa di kua...li.”
Syifa: “.....Ca.... li...”
Mr. Lison: “So...rong ke ki..ri.”
Syifa: “Colong Ili...”
Mr. Lison: “So...rong ke ka...nan.”
Syifa: “Nannann...”
Mr. Lison: “La...la...la...la...la....la...”
Syifa: “Alla...la...la...”
Mr. Lison: “Balon ku ada lima, rupa-rupa warnanya, Ayo!”
Syifa: “Pa....”
Mr. Lison: “Pa, coba ulangi, sini, biar direkam sini.” ( “Pa, just try to repeat after me, it will be recorded here”)
Syifa: aaaaaaaaa(cries)
Mr. Lison: “Ini nah, liat dulu na.....”( This is it, just see first...)
Second term
Mr. Lison:”Halo! Abang Apik?” (Hello, Abang Apik?)
Syifa: “Abang Apik”
Mr. Lison:” Lagi ngapain?” (What are you doing now?)
Syifa: “Ngapainni...”
Mr. Lison: “Udah makan belum?” (have you ate?)
Syifa: “Kakan lum?”
Mr. Lison : “Mamak Panjul.” (Uncle Panjul)
Syifa: “Mak Jun.”
Mr. Lison: “Sini...” (Come here!)
Syifa : “Cini...”
Mr. Lison: “Bawa dogannya!.” (Bring the young coconut!)
Syifa: “Wa’ gannya.”
Mr. Lison : “Pa, mau makan.” (Pa, want to eat)
Syifa : “Mmmkan...”
Mr. Lison : “Mau makannya.” ( want to eat it)
Syifa: “Mmmm kannya.”
Mr. Lison : “Emmak!” (mom)
Syifa: “Mak... !”
Mr. Lison: “Pa mau makan.” ( Pa want to eat)
Mr. Lison : “Pa sayang gak sama Emak?” ( pa, do you love Mom?)
Syifa: (silent)
III. DISCUSSION
In this chapter, the writer will analyze the recording that has been transcripted in the previous chapter. According to the recording, it is true that when a person talks to a baby, they automatically use different kind of language variation, which is called by baby talk. It is universal. Meaning, every adult in the world will do the same to their own baby. But, the participant in this video does not include the baby’s mother.
In the voice recording, we can see that the adult modify his way of speaking, when father is talking to the baby. From the dialog above, we can see there are some characteristics that match with characteristics summarized by Pica:
1. The syntax is simplified through use of fewer subordinate clauses and coordinate construction.
It can be seen as follow:
Father : “udah makan belum?” (in good Indonesian it should be, ‘sudahkah abang Rafi makan?’)
Syifa : “Kakan lum?”
2. The vocal pitch was higher and its range was wider
It can be seen tha the father almost uses more intonation in each vocal than in having conversation with adult.
3. The speaking rate was slower, marked by many pauses between utterances
It can bee heard from the record that father’s speaking rate is slower than usual, and he also repeats in order to help Syifa can repeat what he said.
4. The articulation was more precise.
It can bee seen from dialog and record, that father’s articulation is very clear in order to be understood easily by Syifa.
IV. CONCLUSION
This report has discussed about baby talk and the characterictics of it. The research is according to the dialogue transcription above. Furthermore. It can be concluded that almost of the characteristics summarized by Pica about language addresses to small children or baby by mother, other adults or older children can be found in the dialogue. The syntax is simplified by using fewer subordinate clauses and coordinate construction, the vocal pitch was higher and its range was wider, the speaking rate was slower, marked by many pauses between utterances, the articulation was more precise. It was done naturally by the adults when speak with a child in order to help the child easier to understand what they mean and can easily repeated waht they said evethough some are missed. So, the characteristics of baby talk given by Pica are true.
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