Institutional Repository | Satya Wacana Christian University: The Characteristics of a Mother’s Child-directed Speech Used to Her Two-year-old Daughter(A Case Study) T1 392014505 BAB I
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1.
Background of the Study
Children growth can be marked by their physical development: on their
weight and height. They are definitely getting heavier and taller. However, the growth
is not only occurred in their physicality, but also in their language development. They
are still learning to speak and produce words. Therefore, they may only have several
vocabularies to communicate with others.
Those vocabularies are the result of their language acquisition. A successful
child acquisition can be influenced by internal factors (such as the children ability
itself) and also influenced by external factor which is the people around them.
According to Harris (1990), adult speech supports for language acquisition. As the
environment takes part on the children’s successful in acquiring the language, the
parent should pay attention on this case.
In relation to that environment, mother (mostly as a housewife) is a person
who plays the important role in children language acquisition. She has much time in
accompanying the children. She becomes a model for her children to provide
language data and also to help them to acquire it because as stated by Bochner &
Jones (2005), children cannot acquire language alone.
1
2
Clark and Clark (1997) maintain that the reason for studying adult speech to
children is to find out what model of language young children are exposed to, because
what adults say to children provides them with information about the structure and
function of the language they are to acquire, and provides an indirect measure of how
much children understand. Therefore, how mother converse to her children, called
child-directed speech (later, called CDS) then becomes very important for the writer
to study more, especially the characteristics of CDS. Some linguistic theories
highlight several CDS’ characteristics as a strategy to help the children acquire their
first language. Harris (1990) gives such examples of them commonly used by a
mother as talking employ shorter sentence, producing more pronounced pauses,
familiar vocabularies, and high frequency of self-repetitions.
This theoretical description provides background for the writer attempt to
investigate the characteristics of CDS in a different setting. The writer found an
Indonesian child who can produce many words in her early years old. The child
spends almost a whole day with her mother. This case then makes the writer so
curious to find how the mother communicates to her child, especially what are the
characteristics of CDS that the mother produces to her daughter in her first language
acquisition process.
3
1.2.
Research Problem
In children language acquisition process, adult (their parents or care takers)
actually contribute to a successful acquisition. They are as language models for them.
A mother is one of the influential adults, who plays this role. She commonly guides
her children step by step in acquiring language until they are able to use a language
correctly after long time and unconsciously conducted process.
This phenomenon is predicted to be part of the conversation between the
subject and her daughter. The subject’s speech might display certain characteristics.
Therefore, there is a question raised as the central problem of this research, namely:
what are the characteristics of CDS produced by the subject in her communication to
her two-year-old daughter.
1.3.
Research Objectives
The objective of this study is to find out the characteristics of the CDS
produced by the subject in her communication to her two-year-old daughter as a care
taker to help her daughter in first language acquisition process.
1.4.
Scope of the Study
This study limits its scope to the mother speech in her interaction with her
daughter in various topics during their daily activity.
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1.5.
Explanation of Term
The term considered to be important to explain in this study is CDS. Yule
(2008) defines CDS as the simplified speech style adopted by someone who spends a
lot of time interacting with a young child, in this case is a mother. CDS is also known
in various terms such as motherese language, Baby Talk, or care giver speech.
1.6.
Significance of the Study
By conducting this study, the writer’s skill can be developed and practiced in
applying the technique as an observer that ever had before at class in real situation.
Some theories about language acquisition, hopefully, can help the other researchers to
study further about the same issue. Since the theories used in Western base
environment, the result can add the context-bound features of CDS that may appear
because it is conducted in Indonesian setting, especially a mother who speaks
Indonesian and Javanese language. At the end, it also can give more information to
the readers about CDS and its characteristics.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1.
Background of the Study
Children growth can be marked by their physical development: on their
weight and height. They are definitely getting heavier and taller. However, the growth
is not only occurred in their physicality, but also in their language development. They
are still learning to speak and produce words. Therefore, they may only have several
vocabularies to communicate with others.
Those vocabularies are the result of their language acquisition. A successful
child acquisition can be influenced by internal factors (such as the children ability
itself) and also influenced by external factor which is the people around them.
According to Harris (1990), adult speech supports for language acquisition. As the
environment takes part on the children’s successful in acquiring the language, the
parent should pay attention on this case.
In relation to that environment, mother (mostly as a housewife) is a person
who plays the important role in children language acquisition. She has much time in
accompanying the children. She becomes a model for her children to provide
language data and also to help them to acquire it because as stated by Bochner &
Jones (2005), children cannot acquire language alone.
1
2
Clark and Clark (1997) maintain that the reason for studying adult speech to
children is to find out what model of language young children are exposed to, because
what adults say to children provides them with information about the structure and
function of the language they are to acquire, and provides an indirect measure of how
much children understand. Therefore, how mother converse to her children, called
child-directed speech (later, called CDS) then becomes very important for the writer
to study more, especially the characteristics of CDS. Some linguistic theories
highlight several CDS’ characteristics as a strategy to help the children acquire their
first language. Harris (1990) gives such examples of them commonly used by a
mother as talking employ shorter sentence, producing more pronounced pauses,
familiar vocabularies, and high frequency of self-repetitions.
This theoretical description provides background for the writer attempt to
investigate the characteristics of CDS in a different setting. The writer found an
Indonesian child who can produce many words in her early years old. The child
spends almost a whole day with her mother. This case then makes the writer so
curious to find how the mother communicates to her child, especially what are the
characteristics of CDS that the mother produces to her daughter in her first language
acquisition process.
3
1.2.
Research Problem
In children language acquisition process, adult (their parents or care takers)
actually contribute to a successful acquisition. They are as language models for them.
A mother is one of the influential adults, who plays this role. She commonly guides
her children step by step in acquiring language until they are able to use a language
correctly after long time and unconsciously conducted process.
This phenomenon is predicted to be part of the conversation between the
subject and her daughter. The subject’s speech might display certain characteristics.
Therefore, there is a question raised as the central problem of this research, namely:
what are the characteristics of CDS produced by the subject in her communication to
her two-year-old daughter.
1.3.
Research Objectives
The objective of this study is to find out the characteristics of the CDS
produced by the subject in her communication to her two-year-old daughter as a care
taker to help her daughter in first language acquisition process.
1.4.
Scope of the Study
This study limits its scope to the mother speech in her interaction with her
daughter in various topics during their daily activity.
4
1.5.
Explanation of Term
The term considered to be important to explain in this study is CDS. Yule
(2008) defines CDS as the simplified speech style adopted by someone who spends a
lot of time interacting with a young child, in this case is a mother. CDS is also known
in various terms such as motherese language, Baby Talk, or care giver speech.
1.6.
Significance of the Study
By conducting this study, the writer’s skill can be developed and practiced in
applying the technique as an observer that ever had before at class in real situation.
Some theories about language acquisition, hopefully, can help the other researchers to
study further about the same issue. Since the theories used in Western base
environment, the result can add the context-bound features of CDS that may appear
because it is conducted in Indonesian setting, especially a mother who speaks
Indonesian and Javanese language. At the end, it also can give more information to
the readers about CDS and its characteristics.