IEEE Paper Template in A4 (V1) Loli Safitri LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 10 No. 2 2020 LET: Linguistics, Literature and English Teaching Journal ||Volume||10||Issue||2||Pages||157-177||2020|| |P-ISSN: 20869606; E-ISSN: 25492454| Available online at: http://jurnal.uin-antasari.ac.id/index.php CHILDREN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION PROCESS Loli Safitri safitriloli28@gmail.com IAIN Bukittinggi of Indonesia Article History: Received: 15th October 2020 Accepted: 29th December 2020 This research discusses a case study of children in acquiring their first language at age 18 months old in Bukittinggi. The process deals with some stages namely cooing, babbling, holophrastic, the two- word stage, telegraphic stage, and multiword stage. The purpose of this study is focused on how the children learn the language in the real life. To find out the answer of the problem in this research, the researcher uses the related theories, they are Lyons (1981), Varshney (2003), Chomsky (2009), Bolinger (2002), Gleason (1998), Steinberg (2003), Fromkin (1983), Bolinger (2002) and Steinberg (2003). This research is conducted with descriptive qualitative research where the subject and object are taken from the children at age 18 months old in Bukittinggi. The researcher takes the observed baby named Azka as the subject and gets the data by observation and video recording. After the data had been collected, the researcher finds out that Azka was 18 months old baby who was in holophrastic functions: the one-word utterances stage of language development. Finally, parents’ role is important to develop the children language. The parents should build interaction with their child to know their child’s language development. Besides that, the researcher suggests the parents to say the right pronunciation to the children. Corresponding Author: Tel.: safitriloli28@gmail.com Keywords: Children; Language; Acquisition; Learning INTRODUCTION In the language acquisition process, children learn to produce and comprehend speech. The process started since infants and then continues through some stages until the child can speak or produce a sentence even a complex sentence. Prior to uttering speech sounds, infants make a variety of sounds, crying, cooing, gurgling. P a g e | 158 Loli Safitri LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 10 No. 2 2020 Infants everywhere seem to make the same variety of sounds, even children who are born deaf (Lenneberg, Rebelsky, & Nichols in Steinberg et. al : 2000). The ability and propensity to utter such sounds thus appear to be unlearned (Steinberg et. al : 2000). Furthermore, it is also influenced by not only innate factor but also environments. According to Steven Pinker (2011), “Learning a first language is something every child does successfully, in a matter of a few years and without the need for formal lessons.” The process of language acquisition is done naturally since an infant is exposed to the language. Erika Hoff stated, “In the span of just a few years, newborn infants who neither speak nor understand any language become young children who comment, question, and express their ideas in the language of their community.” This change does not occur all at once. Steinberg (2000) divides language learning into two psychological processes that are speech production and speech comprehension. The development of speech production is divided into three stages. The first stages from (1) vocalization to babling to speech: vocalization to babbling, babbling to speech, explaining the acquisition order of consonants and vowels, (2) early speech stages: naming, holophrastic, telegraphic and morphemic, (3) later speech stages: rules formation for negatives, questions, relative clauses, passives, and other complex structures. Moreover, Piaget dan Vygotsky (2000) describes phonology acquisition in line with child’s age development. 0 – 5 months age old Psycholinguist affirms that this stage is equal with paralinguistic. At this stage, children are unable to produce the utterance. Children can communicate through crying, looking away, or smiling because of their inappropriateness articulator. A child is able to breathe and drink which both may work together in order time. That is a primary function of someone’ articulator provided by the nature. Besides, speaking is understood as secondary function of child’s articulator provided by the nature which is completely acquired through learning process. But this process relies on sense of hearing: sound repetition produced by external factor P a g e | 159 Loli Safitri LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 10 No. 2 2020 (environment) then imitated by a child highly influenced toward their utterance production. Phonology acquisition at this prelinguistic stage can be occurred in some stages. Firstly, child speaks by shutting down the cleft in the larynx when breath out; child cries. Then he/she vibrates the cleft more calmly; this is called vowel. Secondly, babbling by vibrating his/her month which is mostly closed when child produces the utterance; this stage is assumed as babbling, the child imitates the mother tongue in practicing of producing utterances. Word can be produced by the child at the end of this prelinguistic stage. 6 – 12 months age old or second babbling stage. This age, a baby can produce more complicated and varied. Children produce the utterances by combining between vowel and consonant phonemes which is similarly with syllable, i.e. in Indonesian context: ma-ma-ma, ba-ba-ba, pa-pa-pa, da-da-da, etc. These phonemes have the certain meaning and it may not be reused when the child can speak (producing word or phrase). 8 – 12 months age old At this age, child begins and tries producing phonetic segments such as phoneme then producing word. For example in Indonesian: utterance “bu” then “bubu” and finally this can be pronounced word “ibu”. Other example: “pa”, “empah” then a child may produce word “papa”or “bapak” which means father. At this stage a child has an initiative to communicate. Children have their own way to create the interaction with adult. Besides, at this stage, children frequently used their gesture; like pointing the certain things. 1- 2 years old or holophrastic stage (first linguistic stage) At this stage, child is able to pronounce one word and this article focuses at this stage. 2 until 3 years old At this stage, children are able to pronounce two words or phrase. In Indonesian context child may produce phrase mama masak (mother cooks), adik minum (sister drinks), papa pigi (father goes), baju kakak (brother’s shirt) etc. These utterances, of course incompletely like adult’s utterances. At the beginning pronounce ”di P a g e | 160 Loli Safitri LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 10 No. 2 2020 “ which means adik (sister/brother), then child pauses, and produce “num” which means minum (drink) then finally child is able to pronounce phrase, “adik minum” (sister/brother drinks). 3 s/d 4 years old At this stage, children are able to pronounce the elements of complicated structure such as simple sentence. By understanding phonology acquisition stages above, everyone is highly possible to be interlocutor for children. Utterances production and human’s life are inter-dependence. Life is nothing if the interlocutor unable to interpret utterances produced by children. Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1957, in the Field, 2004:30-31) suggests that language acquisition account first by operant conditioning. His view is that a child acquires language through imitating the utterances of adults. Parents provide language model. They also provide reinforcement through the sign of approval, through the implementation of the child or through a desire to recognize, respond to, and produce child's speech. Then, Noam Chomsky explains that the language acquisition obtained through habit or imitation that is generative and theories of language acquisition must take into account the way in which infants acquire the capacity to generate an infinite number of grammatical utterances infinite through the potential development that has taken birth(Field, 2004:30-31). Children in obtaining first language quite varies, there is a slow, moderate, and some even faster. This is very influenced by several factors, such as natural factors, cognitive development factors, social background factor, and hereditary factors (gender, intelligence, personality/style acquisition) (Slobin, 1985:63). A child does not suddenly have a grammar first in the brain (neurology), complete with all the rules. The first language was gained with several stages, and each subsequent stage closer to the grammar of the language of adults. Later, the child's language development is not only affected by neurological development, but also by their biological development. According Lenneberg (in the Dardjowidjojo, 2000:60) the children's language development follows the P a g e | 161 Loli Safitri LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 10 No. 2 2020 biological schedule that cannot be bargained. A child cannot be forced or encouraged to be able to utter something, if his biological ability has not been possible. Conversely, when a child is biologically has been able to do something, he will not be able to also prevented from utters it, because there is a linkage between the developments in biology with language skills. Therefore, the researcher is interested in conducting an observation about this language learning in speech production that is 18 months old child in acquiring the first language. This paper reports the observation process and the result of the observation of child language acquisition. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Language Acquisition Language Acquisition is meant process whereby children achieve a fluent control of their native language (Varshney, 2003:307). The ability to get and understand the language is inherited genetically but the particular language that children speak is culturally and environmentally transmitted to them. Children all over the world acquire their first language without tutoring. Whereas a child exposed to speak to an English speaking community begins to speak English fluently, the other one exposed to a community of Indonesian speakers, begins to use Indonesia fluently. Language acquisition thus appears to be different in kind from the acquisition of other skill such us swimming, dancing, or gymnastics. Native language acquisition is much less likely to be affected by mental retardation than the acquisition of other intellectual skill activities. Every normal human child learns one or more language unless he is brought up in linguistic isolation, and learns the essentials of his language by a fairly little age, say by six. According to Chomsky (2009:101-102) language acquisition is a matter of growth and maturation of relatively fixed capacities, under appropriate external conditions. The form of Acquisition and use of language the language that is acquired is largely determined by internal factors; it is because of the fundamental correspondence of all human languages, because of the fact that “human beings are the same, wherever they may be”, that a child can learn any language. The P a g e | 162 Loli Safitri LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 10 No. 2 2020 functioning of the language capacity is, furthermore, optimal at a certain “critical period” of intellectual development. In addition to that, the term „language acquisition‟ is normally used without qualification for the process which results in the knowledge of one‟s native language(or native languages). It is conceivable that the acquisition of a foreign language whether it is learned systematically at school or not, proceeds in a quite different way. Indeed, as we have seen, the acquisition of one‟s native language after the alleged „critical age‟ for language acquisition may differ, for neurophysiological reasons, from the normal child‟s acquisition of his native language. (Lyons, 1981:252). Theories Underlying First Language Acquisition There are some different theories related to the language acquisition. Brown (2000:22) states that according to behaviouristic approach, children come into the world with a blank sheet of paper (tabula rasa), a clean state bearing no preconceived notions about the world or about language, and then children are shaped by their environment and slowly conditioned through various schedules of reinforcement. Meanwhile, constructivist makes not only the rationalist or cognitivist claim that children come into this world with very specific innate knowledge, predispositions, and biological timetables, but the children learn to function in a language chiefly through interaction and discourse. The following diagram shows three different approaches but complement each other: Behavioristic, Nativist, and Functional approaches. Behaviorist Nativist Functional Mediation theory Figure 1: The different Approaches of Behaviorist, Nativist and Functional -Tabula rasa -Stimuli: Linguistic Responses Innate Predispositions (LAD/UG) Systemic Ruled Constructivist Social interaction Cognition and - Mediating responses P a g e | 163 Loli Safitri LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 10 No. 2 2020 Behavioristic Approach Behaviorism is a psychological theory of learning which was very influential in the 1940s and 1950s, especially in the US. Skinner in Brown (2000: 22-23) states that language learning is a kind of behavior similar to other behaviors. Language is learnt in much the same way as anything else is learnt. It is believed that language learning is the result of imitation, practice, feedback on success, and habit formation. Children imitate the sounds and patterns which they hear around them and receive positive reinforcement for doing so. Therefore, it is believed that imitation and practice become the major process in language development and positive reinforcement and corrections play a major role in language acquisition. Two important concepts are put forward in supporting this theory, such as stimulus (S), response (R) S R The term stimulus (S) refers to the reinforcement or the environment and response (R) refers to the activity resulting from behaviour changing. It is believed that stimulus such as reinforcement can produce response. The stimulus can be in the form of language input. When a child gets a language input from the environment, he will imitate it and continue to imitate and practice this input (sounds and patterns) until he forms “habits” of correct language use. Thus, learning in this case is seen as behaviour change through habit formation, conditioned by the presence of stimuli and strengthened through practices and selective reinforcement. The Nativist Approach The Nativist, also known as innatist, believes that language is not a behavior learned through imitation and conditioning as Chomsky and Miler (1957) in Chaer (2003: 169-170) states that children’s minds are not blank slates to be filled merely by imitating language they hear in the environment. Instead, he claims that children are born with special ability to discover for themselves the underlying rules of a language system. Goh and Silver (2004: 19) also give emphasis that language is rule-based and generative in nature, processed and produced through complicated cognitive processes and mechanism. Children are equipped with L.A.D (Language P a g e | 164 Loli Safitri LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 10 No. 2 2020 Acquisition Devices). L.A.D is a series of syntactic universal, structural properties universally found in all languages. These syntactic structures are innate. Another assumption of this approach is that language development follows biological and chronological program. Just as normal children go through distinct and predictable phases of psychomotor development at different times during their early years, various grammatical features are acquired according to natural order or program. It is supported by Lenneberg (1967) who is popular with his Critical Period Hypothesis in which he argues that critical point for language acquisition occurs around puberty. Beyond this point, people who try to learn a language will not acquire it fully. Functional Approach The primary focus of the functional approach which is also popular as interactionist model is how language and cognitive development take place within key contexts of interaction. It means that language development goes along or is dependent on the cognitive development supported by the environment, i.e. contexts of interaction. These contexts include care giving, play and joint adult- child book reading where many communication routines occur. Such routines allow adults to provide a rich source of language input in meaningful communicative contexts. These inputs, of course contribute to the language development. Another contribution of adult –child interaction is that it provides opportunities for young children to use and experiment with language. Just like adults, children use language for particular communicative function, such as requests, refusals etc, for example, “Apa ini?” (What’s that), “cucu” asking for milk etc. Since the language development is dependent on the child’s cognitive capacity and attempts and the quality of input, environment the child’s experience to live, thus, to enhance the acquisition of language attention to the quality of input is of a very great important. This idea is in line with Vygotskyan view of cognitive and language in which it is stated that cultural and social environments and language learning are interrelated. Children learn a language in social interactions and use it for social purposes. Secondly, cognition is also seen as closely related to language learning. Children’s cognition is developed through their interaction with their P a g e | 165 Loli Safitri LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 10 No. 2 2020 parents and other people. Adults use language to teach children about their world by talking to them about everyday routines, naming objects together and teaching them about appropriate behaviours. However, the relationship between the cognition and the language learning gradually changes as the child grows older. Through language used by themselves and the people around them. Children learn to interpret new experiences which further develops their ability to think. For example, children who have some control over their language will initiate questions so as to make sense of things they see or hear; they also enjoy listening to stories and talking about characters in the stories. Therefore, by learning to use language, children in turn develop new ways of thinking about their experiences. The changing relationship between cognitive development and language can be shown in the following figure. Figure 2: Changing Relationship between Cognitive Development and Language Cognitive Theory Cognitive theorists believe that language is subordinate part of cognitive development, dependent on the attainment of various concepts (Gleason 1998:383). According to this view, children learn about the world first, and then map language onto that prior experience. Additionally, cognitive theorists believe that language is just one aspect of human cognition. According to Piaget and his followers in Interaction with the world and with others Cognitive development (thought) Language P a g e | 166 Loli Safitri LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 10 No. 2 2020 Gleason (1998:384), infants must learn about world around them, which they do through active experimentation and construction. For example, the infant crawls around the floor, observes object from all angels, and slowly develops a sensorimotor (literally, “through the senses and more activity) understanding of the space in which she lives. As Bolinger (2002:3) said that, acquiring a language calls for three things: 1. Predispositions, as well as physical capacities, developed through countless centuries of natural selection; People have capacities for communicating in a human way uniquely and capacities for acting such as breathing, grasping and crying. 2. A pre-existing language system, any one of the many produced by the cultures of the world; Language persists through time and from speaker to speaker. We are not born with an instinct to learn language such as English, Indonesian or Chinese but we learn a language as members of the society, or we want to understand that society, or to be understood by that speech community. It means that if a language is not used in any society, it dies out. 3. .A competence that comes from applying the predispositions and capacities to the system through the relatively long period during which the child learns both to manipulate the physical elements of the system, such as sounds and words and grammatical rules, and to permeate them with meaning: A child must learn the rules before use the language creatively. Stages in First Language Acquisition When human is born, he does not have suddenly the grammatical of his first language in his brain and completely with its rules. The native language is acquired through some stages, and every stage is passed near to adult’s language. There are six stages in children’s first language acquisition, namely: Pre-talking stage / Cooing (0-6 months). According to Bolinger (2002:283) pre-talking stage or cooing is the vowel-like sound responding to human sounds more definitely, turns head, eyes seem to search for speaker occasionally some chuckling sounds. For example, Miles (at the age of 4 months) demonstrating the cooing stage of language acquisition. He is producing P a g e | 167 Loli Safitri LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 10 No. 2 2020 vowel-like sounds (especially, the back vowels [u] and [o])in the sounds of “oh”, “uh”, and “ah”, typical of "cooing".He still finds difficulties in producing the vowel sound [i] except when he is screaming in “hiii”. Moreover in producing the consonant sounds like [b], [p], or [m], she is not able to produce them yet. Babbling stage (6-8 months) Babbling is the sounds which infants produce as consonant-vowel combinations, Steinberg (2003:147). The sounds which are produced by infants but not all the speech sounds are same in language of the world such as [ma-ma-ma] or [da-da-da] and [ba-ba-ba] or [na-na-na]. Holophrastic stage (9-18 months) Fromkin (1983:328) defined holophrastic from holo “complete” or “undivided” plus phrase“phrase” or “sentence”. So holophrastic is the children‟s first single word which represent to a sentence. Children using one word to express particular emotional state. For example, Debby‟s mother recorded the words she had pronounced during the 8 months after the appearance of her first word at 9 months (this was [adi], used both for her "daddy")During the two weeks from 17 months - 17 months and a half, she more than doubled her vocabulary. The two-word stage (18-24 months) Two-word stage is the mini sentences with simple semantic relations. As Fromkin (1983:329) states that children begin to form actual two-word sentences, with the relations between the two words showing definite syntactic and semantic relations and the intonation contour of the two words extending over the whole utterance rather than being separated by a pause between the two words. The following “dialogue” illustrates the kinds of patterns that are found in the children‟s utterances at this stage. Basically, a child at this age is already able to produce the consonant sounds like [j], [p], [b], [d], [t], [m], and [n]. Telegraphic stage (24-30 months) Telegraphic is merely a descriptive term because the child does not deliberately leave out the non-content words, as does an adult sending a telegram, Fromkin (1983:330). When the child begins to produce utterances that ere longer than two P a g e | 168 Loli Safitri LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 10 No. 2 2020 words, these utterances appear to be “sentence-like”; they have hierarchical, constituent structures similar to the syntactic structures found in the sentences produced by adult grammar. Later multiword stage (30+months) According to Bolinger (2002:283) at this stage is fastest increase in vocabulary with many new additions everyday; no babbling at all; utterances have communicative intent. There is a great variation among children, seems to understand everything said within hearing and directed to them. Children Language Development Semantic is the study of the linguistic meaning of words, phrases, and sentences (Fromkin, 1983:164). Children‟s early utterances, consisting primarily of single words, were once considered to carry the meaning of whole sentences; they were labeled holophrastic. It was though that children intended the more elaborate meanings of older individuals but non-semantic factors, such us their insufficient memory spans Gleasonfield and Smith, in Gleason, (1985:152) states that this position was difficult to support because it required attributing intention and semantic knowledge to young children on the basis a little evidence. It is now believed that young children come only gradually to understand and subsequently encode in their words of adult meanings. Gleason (1985:90) states that the processes of concepts learning and lexicalization, or attachment of words and meaning, may occur at varying rates and overlapping in time. At times children‟s concepts right match those of adult, but the children might use imperfect and only partially appropriate words because they lack better words to express themselves. To serve their communication desires, children may make a choice to use words in an analogous fashion or as semantic standing for the words they do not know. And then, Nelson at all in Gleason (1985:90) have suggested that young children are actively engaged in the “classification and of features of objects and events” and use their single words analogically to comment upon similarities they have noticed additional evidence that children are using analogy comes from the fact that they are seldom observed to use words in this fashion often they acquire syntax and can P a g e | 169 Loli Safitri LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 10 No. 2 2020 explain what they mean. As Jakobson in Fromkin (1983:163) said that language without meaning is meaningless. METHOD The methodology of this research is descriptive qualitative approach. It focuses on how the children learn the language in the real life. The subject of this research is taken from the children at age 18 months old named Azka who lives in Bukittinggi. In collecting the data, the researcher uses observation method and video recording of conversation between child and parents. In analysing the data, the researcher conducts some procedures. First, the data are collected from video recording of the conversation between child and parent. Then, the researcher transcribes the recording data and analyses it based on semantic, syntax and pragmatic acquisition. Finally, includes them in approaching language acquisition. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS The observation was conducted around one month started at 1st March 2020 – 22nd March 2020. The observed baby, Azka was 18 months old, was born in Bukittinggi on 10th September 2018. His father is (Mr. Dodi) is an entrepreneur and his mother (Mrs. Desi) is a housewife. His parents come from Bukittinggi and lived in Bukittinggi. Azka is the third child. In every day communication, their parents use Minang language. The mother is also communicates Minang to Azka. After several weeks’ observation, the observer found that Azka had come into early speech stages by producing one-word utterances. The following is the result of the observation. First week, 1st March 2020 This first week was the first time the researcher observed Azka. Since Azka is the third child his family, so he lives with his parents and his siblings. When his father goes to work, Azka stays with his mother. In addition, his mother plays the important rule in his language development process because she is only a house wife and spends much time with Azka. His mother tries to communicate with him every day after she finishes doing housework. P a g e | 170 Loli Safitri LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 10 No. 2 2020 Furthermore, when the researcher went to Azka’s house, she found that Azka had been able to speak one-word utterances. The utterances produced were still incomplete words due to the development of speech organs. When Azka felt hungry, he would utter ‘mam’ means ‘mamam’ or ‘I want to eat’. When his father went to work, he uttered ‘dah’ means ‘dadah’ or ‘good bye’. The mother tried to imitate Azka’s words when spoke with him. His mother often repeated his utterances when communicate with Azka in order to make Azka repeated the utterances. For example, at lunch time, when he wanted to feed Azka, he would say “mam” for two or three times in order to make Azka familiar with the utterance and also the meaning. This following table lists some utterances produced by Azka: Table I Azka’s utterance Mature speaker utterance Purpose Semantic relations (expressed or implied) Pa (ayah) Papa (Daddy) Naming Experiencer- State-Object Ma (ibu) Mama (Mommy) Naming Experiencer- State-Object Num (minum) Minum (drink) (I want to drink) Request Experiencer- State-Object mam (makan) Makan (eat) (I want to eat) Request Experiencer- State-Object We (Kue) Kue (cookie) (I want a cookie) Request Experiencer- State-Object Puk (kerupuk) Kerupuk (chip) (I want chip) Request Experiencer- State-Object Ugh (ya) Ya (yes) Answer to Question Experiencer- State- Affirmation P a g e | 171 Loli Safitri LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 10 No. 2 2020 in (balik) Main (go out) (I want to go out) Request Experiencer- State-Wish Nak (enak) Enak (delicious) (It is delicious) Informing Experiencer- State-Taste Uk (Buruk) Buruk (ugly) (It is ugly) Informing Attribution Bum (mobil) Mobil (car) (I want to ride in the car) Request Experiencer- State-Object Pon (handphone) Handphone Naming Experiencer- State-Object Cang (pisang) Pisang (banana) Naming Experiencer- State-Object Kak (bukak) Buka (Help me to open it!) Request (Agent)-Action- Receiver-Object Tup (tutup) Tutup (Please Close it!) Request (Agent)-Action- Receiver-Object Tak (tidak) Tidak (No) Refusal Experiencer- State-Negation Tak (minta) Minta (Give it to me!) Request (Agent)-Action- Receiver-Object Tak (kakak) Kakak (Big sister) Naming Experiencer- State-Object Ja (kerja) Bapak Kerja (Daddy goes to work) Informing Agent-Action Tut (Ikut) Ikut (I want to go too) Request Experiencer- State-Object Nggu (tunggu) Tunggu (Wait for me!) Request Experiencer- State-Object ngin (dingin) dingin (It is cool!) Informing Experiencer- State-Taste P a g e | 172 Loli Safitri LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 10 No. 2 2020 Ngek (angek) Panas/angek (It is hot!) Informing Experiencer- State-Taste Bok (bobok, tidur) Tidur (Grandpa is sleeping) Informing Agent-Action Yang (sembahyang) Shalat / sembahyang(Pray) Informing Action Dah (sudah) Sudah (I have done it!) Informing Action ek (eek, buang air besar) Buang air besar (I want to poop) Informing Experiencer- Action Pis (pipis, kencing) Kencing (I want to pee) Informing Experiencer- Action The second week, 8th March 2020 Since Azka lives only with his parents, the language improvement will depend on his parents in exposing the language to him. His mother often brought Azka to their neighbor’s house in order to expose Azka to the language and communication. Steven Pinker (2011) stated, “Children most definitely do need to hear an existing language to learn that language of course.” It means that when children are having more interaction with the environment and hears more sounds, it will improve their language. Meeting new people and hearing new utterances, Azka found new utterances for example in naming, ‘nte’ for ‘tante’ or ‘aunty’, ‘om’ for ‘oom’ or ‘unlce’. Azka also saw new things such as cat, dog, candies, etc. The neighbors also liked to talk with Azka by imitating Azka’s words. When they wanted to introduce to new thing, the neighbors repeated the words for several times until Azka was familiar with the words and produced the utterances, for example ‘mobil’ or ‘car’ and then Azka said ‘bil’ for ‘mobil’ or ‘car’. Here are some new utterances that Azka found outside of his house: P a g e | 173 Loli Safitri LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 10 No. 2 2020 Table II Azka’s utterance Mature speaker utterance Purpose Semantic relations (expressed or implied) Bat (hebat) Hebat (Great!) Bragging Experiencer-State- Compliment o..o.. (astaga) Astaga, ya ampun (My God!) Warning Experiencer-State- Astonishment Re (hore) Hore (Hurrah, Hurray) Informing Experiencer-State- Enjoyment Oce (oke) Oke (Okay) Answer to Question Experiencer-State- Affirmation Itan (ikan) Ikan (Fish) Naming Experiencer-State-Object Tos Tos (Toss) Informing Experiencer-State- Affirmation Ngin (dingin) Dingin (It is cold!) Informing Experiencer-State-Taste Pat (cepat) Cepat (Hurry up!) Request Experiencer-State- Imperative Nte (tante) Tante (Auntie!) Request Experiencer-State-Object La bam (Allahu Akbar) Allahu Akbar (praying) Informing Experiencer-Action Guk (guguk) Ada anjing (That is a dog) Naming Equation Men (permen) Pemen (Give me some candies! Request (Agent)-Action- Receiver-Object Yong (meong) Ada kucing (that is a cat) Naming Equation P a g e | 174 Loli Safitri LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 10 No. 2 2020 The third and the fourth week, 15th March – 22nd March 2020 In this third week, Because of a lot exposure to the language, Azka had made an improvement for producing utterances. He had been able to say “mama” for “mother” and “papa” for “father”. He was being able to say some simple one-word utterances completely. He had been familiar with the utterances and the naming of the things around him. Table III Azka’s utterance Mature speaker utterance Purpose Semantic relations (expressed or implied) Nenek Nenek (grandma) Naming Experiencer-State-Object Mama Mama (Mother) Naming Experiencer-State-Object Lani Lani Naming Experiencer-State-Object Umam (mamam) Mamam (I want to eat) Request Experiencer-State-Object Based on the real interaction both data provided above and other recorded, researcher may conclude that neurological maturity in line with children’s phonology acquisition development. For a child at the age of 18 months old, language input toward child dominantly provided from external factor and media (toys, family interaction, peer’s interaction, kitchen tools and the like) around him. The media provided significantly contributed toward child’s semantic acquisition and gradually they produce the appropriate pronunciation. In supporting this statement, Tarigan (1985) said that utterance produced in this phenomenon includes in holophrastic stage because child produces a phoneme to be representative the semantic for whole sentence. Tarigan illustrated this phenomenon in Indonesian context in terms of word “asi “/rice (which means nasi can be interpreted dia ingin makan nasi (a child likes eating rice), dia sudah makan nasi (a child has eaten rice), nasi ini tidak enak (rice is not delicious) or atau apakah ibu mau makan nasi? (do you like eating rice?) etc. P a g e | 175 Loli Safitri LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 10 No. 2 2020 In supporting the interlocutor’s interpretation toward child utterances production, interlocutor may have sufficient understanding of child’s circumstance around. Interlocutor (adult) may engage to provide the notion of this holophrastic stage, memory and children’s articulators are incomplete yet to produce a sentence which consist of some words. Holophrastic stage experienced by normal child in age of 12 until 24 months old. The ending period of this stage may be different for each child; early finished or may be for certain children holophrastic stage will be stopped at the 36 months age old. At this stage also, child’s physic movement i.e. touching, pointing, lifting things, and the like done in combination with utterance one word. Furthermore, gesture; one word is used to give the comment toward the object or occurrence around him/her. One word said can be understood as an order, inform, refuse, question, and the like. Clark (1977) affirms that child in the age of 12 until 24 months old, gesture is more communicative. Gesture and word are produced equally. In addition, word produced and physic movement are equal essential in the holophrastic stage and word firstly produced by a child rely on what the near object around, what he/she listens and looks at. Clark’s concept in Indonesian context can be word pipis means buang air kecil (toilet), mamam atau maem means makan (eating), dadah while a hand signal wave, mah means mamah (mother), pak means bapak (father), bo means tidur (laying). The words which mean questioning can be what, why, while ordering words: here, there, look, and asking: again, wish, and ask. These three types can be different for each child. In addition, referenced to the recording result, the researcher may highlights that children at the holophrastic stage have the problem of certain consonants phonemes production such as r, s, k, j and t. Children had the variety of consonants phonemes production performance and those unequal with adult’s utterances. Besides, children in the age of 15 until 20 months old cannot become active speaker in certain conversation. After this stage, children are engaged to be more active in conversation with adult, they know the appropriate turn taking in conversation. Conversation initiative created from adult and children involved and they produced more than two words in replaying adult’s question or in responding adult’s intention P a g e | 176 Loli Safitri LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 10 No. 2 2020 with their gesture movement. Children appear their phonology acquisition after this stage significantly developed. A child can produce one word/phrase then she/he involved actively in conversation and other utterances produced by that child can be developed through imitation a series utterance appears in the conversation. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS Children language acquisition is the important process in the children language development. Parents and environment take an important part in this language development. Azka was 18 month old baby who was in the one-word utterances stage of language development. His mother exposed him to the language that really influenced his language acquisition. In this stage, Azka had been able to say ‘mama’ and ‘papa’. Furthermore, he was also familiar with names of simple things around him for examples: ‘nte’ for ‘auntie’, ‘om’ for ‘uncle’, ‘yong’ for ‘cat’, ‘guk’ for ‘dog’, etc. After observing Azka, the researcher can conclude that at this age, the child is in the one-word utterances where the production of the utterances followed by comprehension of the utterances. In accepting acquiring language, the child takes time to identify the word to several times the listening process. While the words that usually fall into the category of rapid language acquisition are words which are directly related to the daily routine, the main requirement of everyday life, and nouns such as people who are constantly interacting with the child. For example, breastfeeding, eating, drinking, going out, looking at the car, mother, father, grandmother, older sister, grandfather, brother, uncle. The more words that are directly visible or concrete by the child so quickly he will be an additional acquisition of language can be stored in the organs of the brain form long-term memory that can be used at any time of the child to interact with the opposite of play. From the results of this research we can understand that the child language acquisition is strongly influenced by physiological and psychological functions. Articulation functions due to the incomplete articulation of children aged 18 months so that the words spoken were not perfect. Then, psychologically, the child experiences something tangible or concrete, either the nature of objects or actions that are going to help in the process of language acquisition quickly and spoken words become meaningless. P a g e | 177 Loli Safitri LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 10 No. 2 2020 REFERENCES Brown, Douglas. 2000. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. 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