that the simple language forms used by young children, or the modified form of speech often used by adults with young children also known as motherese or
caregiver speech.
b. Characteristics of Caretaker Speech
According to Fauziati 2011: 116 states that adult generally exaggerate intonation and use a slower tempo and frequently repeat or rephrase what their
say or children say. And according to Clark and Clark 1977: 32 stated that adult s spee h to i fa ts is i flue ed th ee fa to s. Fi st, Adults ha e to ake
sure that children realize a speech is being addressed to them. Usually they use a name, special tone of voice, or by touching them. Second, when they have the
chi ld e s atte tio , the ust hoose the ight o ds a d the ight se te es to
make the children easily understand them. Third, they say what they have to say in many different ways.
Yule 2006: 150 said that salient features of caretaker speech are the frequent use of questions; generally use exaggerated intonation; extra loudness
and a slower tempo with longer pauses. Besides, caregiver speech also incorporates a lot of forms associated with baby talk, for example, the use of
simplified word tummy, nana and the use of repetition of simple sounds and syllables choo-choo, pee-pee, wawa. According to Whyatt 1994 caretaker
speech is simple; redundant; contains many questions and imperatives; its pitch is higher and has an exaggerated intonation pattern.
Further, Warren; Leubecker; and Bohannon 1984 assume that motherese is characterized by simpler, shorter, well-formed utterances of limited
sentence types, a greater proportion of concrete words, and more repetition. Moreover, differing prosodic features, including a slower rate of speech, a rise in
the fundamental frequency pitch of the voice, and a preference for certain intonational contours, have been observed in maternal speech Baldwin and
Baldwin: 1973. There are some features of child directed speech according to Tiritilli
2002, namely: phonological features, lexical features, syntactic features, conversational features, repetition, and turn-taking.
g. Phonological features: Higher pitch, greater range of frequencies,
slower rate of speech, clearer enunciation, emphasis on one or two words in a sentence, and special pronunciations of individual words.
h. Lexical features: Substitutions, diminutives, semantically inappropriate
o ds, a d use of hild s o e fo s. i.
Syntactic features: Use of nouns in lieu of pronouns, use of plural pronouns in place of singular, intentional ungrammatical usage, more
grammatically correct usage, more grammatically simple phrases, and shorter phrases.
j. Conversational features: More restricted topics, more repetitions of
own utterances, more questions, fewer declaratives, more deictic
declaratives, provision of both questions and answers by adult, and epetitio s, e pa sio s, e asts of hild s utte a es Ba o ,
: .
k. Repetition is one of the most frequently used methods of prolonging
conversation, as well as one of the particular traits of child-directed speech. The more times a child hears a sentence clearly modeled, the
o e that hild s la guage lea i g is fa ilitated Ba o , :
. l.
Turn-taking becomes a model for the infant of the conventions. Routines of turn-taking also serve other functions in linguistic
development. Babies gain experience in vocalizing, and participate in situations in which that vocalizing becomes more language-like
Bloom, et al, 1987:212 Adult typically exaggerates annunciation, specifically vowels, reduces
the speed of conversation, simplifies the grammatical and vocabulary content of the conversation, speaks in a higher tone or pitch and uses shorter duration
sentences and phrases Seaton: 1905.
c. Function of Caretaker speech
