An Analysis of Baby Talk - Research Paper Example

Research paper on baby talk Research paper on baby talk Introduction Young children communicate via making sounds, such as, crying or chuckling and via body language, such as, use of gestures. In other occasions, young children of between 8 months and 3 years of age undergo a significant growth achievement which entails applications of different words to pass a message – talking. Words are symbolical representations that help caretakers or parents to comprehend the children’s needs. The term baby talk stands for any distinctive type of language that is considered by a speech group as initially right for speaking to young children and that is entirely considered as not the ordinary adult application of language. This paper presents an analysis of Baby talk. In particular, it presents 15 baby talk words from a chosen child named Firas who is aged 2 years and 5 months. Additionally, this paper presents a morphological, phonological and syntactic analysis of the baby talk words in the data list. This section of the research paper is structured with reference to Jones (1986), pages 178 to 180 in the East Cree Baby talk file. Finally, this paper presents a conclusion of the findings with reference to the chapter 11, First language acquisition, of the text book. Firas is Arabic, and is brought up with Arabian parents and caretaker in the Middle East. This baby talk represents the Arabic language which has been applied from the 19th century. The Arabic language is characterised with numerous examples of baby talk items that display pharyngeal spirants. However, these are commonly seen as elements that are acquired late in Arabic. For example, labial categorical are present in Arabic baby talk and could be the primary categorical to be acquired by the Arabic young children. This is regardless of the fact that they are insignificant at the adult stage. List of baby talk words A. Body Parts and Functions Drink – Mbu, Mbuwa Sleep – Ninnī, ninnē B. Basic Qualities Sick, hurt, sore, injury – Wāwa, uwwa, vava Nice – Daħħ Bad, don’t – Didde, (hu)mm C. Kin Terms, Nicknames Father – Ba meaning Baba Mother – Ma meaning Mama Baby – Dada, bubbu Grandmother – Teeta, or when known to, teete D. Familiar Objects and Creatures Bread – Bappa, babba, papa Food – Mamm E. Familiar Actions Come here – Tata, Tal Eat – Hum Hum Want to play outside home – Nay na Wants to go to the washrooms - Ess F. Exclamations Watch out! - Baw G. Noises Ear – Kurr Noise of smoothing falling –Buqq Linguistic analysis of the data Phonology - entails the study of speech construction in a language, which includes the trend of fundamental speech elements and the established rules of how to pronounce words identified as phonology. The least element of sounds that compose a language is referred to phonemes. In particular, the word “Mbuwa” which is Firas’s Arabic baby talk word that stands for drink, consists of five phonemes, the “mb” stands for one phoneme /mb/, the “u” maps to the short sound/ŭ/, the “w” stands for /w/ and finally, “a” to its fundamental sound /ă/. Morphology - is the advanced stage of language that entails the study of tiny elements of meaning –morphemes. Morphemes entail foundational words, such as, “Food”, “dog” or “hat” in addition to affixes, such as, “un-“, “re-“, the plural forms, such as, “s”, “es” and the past tenses, such as, “ed”. Understanding the morphology of language is essential to vocabulary advancement and echoes the tiniest pillars for language capacity. Syntax - entails the study of how distinctive words and their fundamental significant elements are joined to formulate sentences. When words are put together when people talk, it is important to adhere to the rules of grammar for distinctive languages. Above all, it is the subject of syntax that enables anyone to comprehend that sentences can carry different word order and levels of intricacy but still portray equal significance. For example, Firas eat the food. The food was eaten by Firas. Reduplication According to Linda (1986), partial reduplication is evident in Firas’s Arab baby talk case. Reduplication takes place on both words and sections of the words in the baby talk data. Reduplication plays a significant grammatical role in an adult language. However, reduplication in baby talk is entirely divided and diversified to the application of the normal language (Linda, 1986). Most of all, this is a common feature in many other babies from other languages, not only Arabic. Reduced phonological inventory One of the main significant factors to note in Firas’s Arab baby talk case, as evident in other baby talk scenarios, is the absence of the phonological inventory. Phonological inventory entails instances, such as, voiceless stops which are common in adult languages. For example, Fira applies words, such as, Ninnī which clearly indicates the absence of the phonological inventory. Additionally, round, platised and aspirated sounds, common in adult language are roughly absent in the baby talk inventory (Linda, 1986). Repetition The repetition of the whole words is apparent in the baby talk register. This is a process that entails supporting basic words r fostering a number of actions. This is apparent in Firas’s case where one can say Tata Hum Hum Come here eat in order to put emphasis on what is provided or to foster a baby to eat. Simple canonical form CVCV and CVC are frequently used canonical types in baby talk registers. However, it is apparent that one form normally outweighs in every language. One of the mainly applied is the CVC which entails a monosyllable that starts and ends with a consonant and the CVCV following in the list of regularity (Linda, 1986). In the case of Fira, only five words end with a consonant, which include, Hum Hum, Kurr, Mamm, Dahh and (hu)mm. It is therefore, clear that the rest of the words formulated by the child end with vowels. Diminutive and hypocoristic affixes A diminutive affix is connected to words in order to comment on the extent or measure. On the other hand, the hypocoristic affix is a component that indicates that the word is a component of a baby talk register (Linda, 1986). It is apparent that there are other languages where both, diminutive affix and hypocoristic affix are equal. In particular, in the case of Firas, -u can be suffixed to a word, as a diminutive, to imply eat but it is commonly connected to baby talk words, such as, the ones meaning ear, noise of something falling or a baby for a hypocoristic implication. In other languages there is a clear difference between the two. For example, English makes use of et/te to point out words, such as, toilet, forget or casket which is under the diminutive affix and as well the y/ie in words, such as, completely, bubbly or junkie. The Cree suffix į is applied to indicate something small in a given context or a small amount. However, it most likely presents a general picture of love, normally linked with the hypocoristic, when connected to first names (Linda, 1986). For example, anyone use the word Gogoį to mean drink a small amount or fifiį to indicate a tiny baby in baby talk which has correlations in the adult talk by the use of the suffix į. Over and above, the suffix į can be used to indicate a small girl only in the adult language in order to highlight acquaintance and love. However, it is frequently used to refer to a small girl named Mary. Onomatopoeia This is a frequently used aspect of superlative nursery. For instance, Linda (1986) indicates that “in English there is choo-choo for train” (179). Additionally, a dog is illustrated by bow-wow and tick-tock for clock. In the case of Firas in his baby talk, these examples are not present. This is for the reason that babies are good at applying onomatopoeia in their talks. They are known to refer to such items as, clocks, dog or bells. However, when analysing the creation of words, such as, Hum Hum, Tata, it is abnormal to fail to establish the use of onomatopoeia in the conception of words. In particular, it is clear that words, such as, Hum hum, which stands for eating could have originated from the process of eating which seems to produce the sound hum hum. Tata, which means walk, also seem to have originated from the sound of walking which a child can easily visualise and understand. Derivation Baby words may show significant differences from the adult speeches in a number of instances (suppletive) or derived. According to Linda (1986), there are a number of overall trends for deriving baby talk forms. Linda (1986) indicates that East Cree highlights “evidence of cluster simplification, syllable deletion and reduplication” (p. 179). However, none of these are applied widely. In the case of Firas, Derivation is not clearly established. Grammatical inflection The list of words presented in the case of Firas can change their parts of speech. For example, baba can mean father (noun) whereas hum hum can mean eating (verb). It is also apparent that baby talks can be ambiguous. For example, Tata hum hum Mamm which means come here eat food. According to Linda (1988), when inflections are evident, “it is the baby words that are inflected” (p. 180). For example, Mbuwa, drink, can be inflected to mbuwai, which means would you like to drink? And Mbuwao, meaning that he is drinking. These inflections integrated in the baby words are not as complex as the ones applied in the adult language/speech. However, when the children grow and advance in the use of words and vocabulary, the adults begin to introduce the complex inflections to them. Above all, they begin to understand gradually with time and exposure of the adult roots and simple inflections. Conclusion In conclusion, baby talk is a linguistic sub-system that is considered by speech communities as initially right for speaking to children. As seen in Firas case and East Cree document by Linda, baby talk contains into-national factors, patterned deviations of the ordinary language, spoken by adults and distinctive cluster of lexical items. The distinctive lexical items include kin terms and nicknames, bodily functions, basic qualities, such as, sick, nice or bad, and words on the subject of creatures and familiar actions. Baby talk words may integrate voiceless stops, nasals and a controlled number of vowels, are normally re-duplicated and have diminutive suffix attributable to baby talk. It is, therefore, apparent that Baby talk is not all inclusive. However, it can be transferred, similar to, other languages. It is true that baby talk is apparent in every community and much more serves as the First language acquisition system for children who use it to convey their desires. Above all, as they advance with age and as they mature in vocabulary they later drop them. Baby talks are also applied when speaking to a child in a baby or child level. On the other hand, baby talks are incorporated in the phonological and morphological factors of language. However, they are unrelated grammatically to the ordinary. Conversely, baby talk seem to move through other language barriers irrespective of the genetically links. A baby talk system can be evaluated on the subject of internal frameworks, by the size of the distinctive lexicon and the extent of inconsistency. Most of all, externally, it can be evaluated by the rate of its advanced applications and the view on the subject of its community integration. References Linda, J. (1986). First Language Acquisition: “East Cree Baby talk.” Papers of the 17th Algonquian Conference. Ed. William Cowan Ottawa: Carlton University, 1986. 175-181. Linda, J. (1986). Second Language Acquisition: “East Cree Baby talk.” Papers of the 17th Algonquian Conference. Ed. William Cowan Ottawa: Carlton University, 1986. 175-181. Read More