Sociolinguistics Take Home Exam

Analysis of Language Used by 4 Year Old Children in a Video of

Youtube Im Getting Married








By:
Yohana Ekky Putri
C11.2011.01241




Faculty of Humanities
Dian Nuswantoro University
2013
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Analysis of Language Used by 4 Year Old Children in a Video of Youtube Im Getting
Married
Yohana Ekky Putri (joanaekky@gmail.com)
Faculty of Humanities
Dian Nuswantoro University

Abstract
One of the most crucial events in life is language acquisition. It happens in childhood life
stage. There are many things that help a child acquire language, but mostly it comes from the
circumstance where a child lives which eventually influences a child language in the future.
Adults who can be parents or older siblings or other family members take important role in
establishing a young child language development. When adults talk, purposelessly a child
will also acquire what they talk about. By the time, what a child hears frequently in his daily
life becomes the thing he talks as he grows up. This study is aimed to observe the language
used by the two children in the Youtube video Im Getting Married. The methodology used
in this study is Library Research which means the method of compiling data by doing some
study reviews of books, literatures, notes, and reports that are related with the study need to
be analyzed. (Nazir,1988: 111). It enables the writer to analyze library materials collection
without doing a field research (Zed, 2008, p.2). The result of this study shows that the
language used by the boy and the girl in the Youtube Video Im Getting Married is not
only the one children will normally use, but also the one that has gotten the influence from
their social life.

Keywords: analysis, children, Im Getting Married, language, Youtube video

INTRODUCTION
Childhood is an important life stage, but the importance of other life stages varies cross-
culturally, with a corresponding variation in age-exclusive features (Cheshire, J., 2005). In
early childhood what is obviously important in children development is an achievement in
learning to talk. Without explicit teachings, toddlers develop the way they speak from single
words to sentences fluently, from being hesitant to being confident by the time. (J. Johnston,
2005).
In linguistics field, language acquisition is related to sociolinguistics which means in
acquiring language, social life takes important role. Through this paper, the writer analyzes a
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Youtube video Im Getting Married where a 4 year old girl and boy talks about their future
relationship, to know their language and how they can produce such adult-like talk.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Generally, most children begin speaking during their second year and possibly know not less
than 50 words and are able to construct them into short phrases. (Rescorla L., 1989) As their
vocabularies get through approximately 200 words, the word learning rank raises drastically
and they begin having the consistency in using grammatical words such as articles and
prepositions (Bates & Goodman, 1997).

General Milestones of 3-4 Year Old
A 3-4 year old child (preschooler) will keep on developing in various means in the
forthcoming year. Even though children attain developmental milestones at various times, a
child will likely attain the coming developmental milestones earlier than 5 years old. Shelov
(2009) explains about general milestones of 3-4 year old as follows.
1. Language Milestones
If a child is pretty quiet, that will probably alter presently. A preschooler ought to be able
to:
Mention his or her name and age
Utter 250 to 500 words
Respond simple questions
Speak five to six words in a sentence, and in complete sentences during age 4
Speak evidently
Tell stories
2. Cognitive Milestones
A child will begin asking millions of questions. "How does baby born? Why does my hair
red?" It might be irritating on occasion, but questioning is a normal in developmental
turning point. There are more things a preschooler does than merely asks "why?"
frequently. He/she ought to be able to:
Mention associate colors correctly
Understand the concept of same and different
Creatively act and imagine in fantasy
Keep up three-level instructions
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Memorize parts in a story
Improve in understanding time
Calculating, and understand the perception of calculating
Classify objects based on shape and color
Accomplish age-suitable puzzles
Know and describe general objects and pictures
3. Movement Milestones
A preschooler who has many activities makes him/her cannot sit longer will keep on
being active. A preschooler ought to be able to:
Walk up and down stairs, taking turns feet -- one foot per step
Kick, throw, and catch a ball
Considerably climb
Run more confidently and ride a tricycle
Jump and stand on one foot for up to five seconds
Easily walk to and fro
Crouch without falling
4. Emotional and Social Milestones
A preschooler is getting more autonomous physically and also emotionally. For example,
bad tempers can be noticed decreasing when a child is forced for the first time to school
and separated from his/her parents.

Further about Speech and Language Milestones
Receptive and Expressive Language
Speech and language development milestones relate to receptive language (understanding
words and sounds competence) and expressive language (using speech and gestures to
communicate meaning competence).
As in the article of Speech and Language Development, Age 3 to 5 Years written by
medical staffs of WebMD.com, speech and language development for children becomes more
advanced, starting age 3 through 5 approximately. During this period, receptive language
skills have become more complex, a child learns to make noticeable differences between
objects and relationship. A child also can comprehend multilevel requests. Most children also
constantly talk more fluently and use appropriate grammar more continuously.

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Age Receptive language Expressive language
3 Understanding the perception of
numbers.
Being able to keep up two-part
requests, such as "pass me the paper
and the pen under your book."
Learning more new words in short
time; knowing most general the
names of object.
Understanding gender distinction.
Knowing their full name.
Asking "why" and "what
frequently.
Starting using plurals, pronouns,
and prepositions more correctly and
steadily.
Using complete sentences of 3 to 4
words frequently.
4 Knowing the names of colors.
Understanding the distinctions
between the same and the different
things, such as the distinction
between dog and cat.
Being able to keep up three-level
directions, such as "Do your
homework, sleep on time, and wake
up early."
Using the words past tense.
Using 5 to 6 words in a sentence.
Being able to recount their
experience or tell a short story.
Being able to speak evidently
enough to be understandable to
strangers almost every time.
(Shonkoff, J.P., 2003)
5 Understand relationships between
objects, such as "the dog which is
running" and "the cat which is
eating."
Being able to conduct a
communication with people.
Frequently call people (or objects)
by their relationship, such as
"Renees dad" instead of "Mr.
Kenneth."
Being able to determine words such
as "tree" and "fan."


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Dysfluencies
Dysfluency is speech that show aberrations in fluency, fluidity, comfort of range and attempt,
with falters or repetition of sounds, words, or phrases, and short of ability in speech. Farah
Alkaf and Pamela T. Joseph explain about some kinds of dysfluencies.
1. Repetition
Repeating individual sounds or syllables at the beginning of words or repeating more than
a word in a phrase or sentence.
2. Interjection
Interjections are additional sounds, syllables or words that give no meaning to the
message. The most general interjections used are 'uh' and um.
3. Pauses
Pauses or silent intervals between words may be believed as a type of dysfluency that is
contingent upon when they occur and how long they last. Pauses are to divide phrases,
but sometimes speakers tend to pause within a phrase. Pauses that last over 2 seconds can
be considered dysfluencies.
4. Revision
People at one time revise what they have just said. They may stop before finishing their
sentence and start it over in a new form. Revisions can occur in pronunciation; grammar;
or word choice.
5. Prolonged
Sounds or syllables may be prolonged or made longer. A break possibly exists in the
word that might be followed by some tension in the tongue, lip and mouth.
Apparently, children will be most dysfluent during the preschool years. In general, repetition,
interjections, pauses, and prolonged sentences or words are very common to occur. Most
children indicate every kind of dysfluency. However, it is considered to be 'normal
dysfluency.

Social Influence on Language Acquisition
Social Interaction
Normally a child will talk about things such as cartoons, toys, playing, their friends and
everything related to children. However there is a thing carrying crucial role in a childs
language. It is social interaction which is one of the best ways in acquiring language. This is
explained in social interactionist theory (Bruner, J, 1983). It tells about language
development underlining what role carried by social interaction between the developing child
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and linguistically knowledgeable adults. It plays up the language acquisition role of feedback
and reinforcement and even particularly asserts that much of a child's linguistic growth stems
from modeling of and interaction with parents and other adults, who very frequently provide
instructive correction. In addition, social interaction will help children to develop language
acquisition performed with adult assistance and not alone for proximal result.
In this social interaction, there are two essential components. First, a child needs to be
employed as a communication partner and second, adults need to use effective interaction
strategies that facilitate communication and keep the child employed in the interaction (Otto,
B., 2008).
Developmental psychologist and linguist Erika Hoff, author of the book Language
Development, mentions how two groups with different social experiences, white children
and African-American children, habitually speak in different ways; though these two groups
learn the same language, their choice of topics and focus on these topics are correlated with
their racial communities.

Resembling Speech
In the beginning of childrens speech, they seem to be asked to resemble adult sentences. It is
because naturally they cannot correctly resemble a sentence which is more complex than
what they could produce by themselves. However, the way children learning to talk is not
simply by memorizing sentences or sentence types. (Temple, C., Temple, F., Nathan, &
Burris, 1993).
In addition, young children tend to have a feature that is markedly clear which is their
creativity with language. The creativity of children's linguistic creations has been underlined
because it shows that children do not only resemble what they hear, but elicit common rules
and principles that make them to create new verbalism (de Villiers, J, 1979).

METHODOLOGY
This study is descriptive qualitative because it is aimed to describe the analysis of the
language used by 4 year old children in a Youtube video Im Getting Married. The units of
analysis of this study are every sentence found in the transcription of Youtube video Im
Getting Married. The methodology used in this study is Library Research which means the
method of compiling data by doing some study reviews of books, literatures, notes, and
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reports that are related with the study need to be analyzed. (Nazir,1988: 111). It enables the
writer to analyze library materials collection without doing a field research (Zed, 2008, p.2).

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Analysis of Michaels and Rachels Speech
1. Language milestone
a. Mention his or her name and age
In the video, Michael mentions his name and also spells it.
Michael : Michael!
Michael : ..-I-C-H-A-E-L!
He also mentions his age.
Michael : Foourr.
b. Respond simple questions
Michael
Aunt : And how old is Rachel today?
Michael : Four.
Rachel
Aunt : Is Michael your friend?
Rachel : Uh-huh.
c. Speak five to six words in a sentence
Rachel : Im getting marry him.
Michael : Well, somebody just got married in 2 years, I think.
d. Speak evidently
In every word said, both Michael and Rachel speak clearly that they make themselves
understood by adults (in this case is Rachels aunt).
2. Receptive and Expressive Language
a. Receptive Language
Michael is 4 year old. He has passed the phase of receptive language of 3 year old.
One of the characteristics is to understand the perception of numbers. When he was
asked to count numbers, he was able to do it.
Aunt : Four? Can you count for me?
Michael : One, two, three, four, five, six, (showing 8), seven, eight, (pauses for a
while because he has no more fingers left but still continues counting),
nine, ten.
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b. Expressive Language
Both Michael and Rachael have correctly and steadily used plurals and pronouns in
their speech.
Michael : Because its her party.
Rachel : Im getting marry him.
Michael : Well, somebody just got married in 2 years, I think.
3. Dysfluencies
a. Prolonged
Michael and Rachel tend to prolong their speech in speaking.
Michael : Foourr. (showing 4 with his fingers and blinks)
Michael : Because its her partyyyy.
Michael : Yeah, it isss.
Rachel : My mom and Daad.
b. Interjection
Michael and Rachel use interjections in their speech.
Michael : Well, somebody just got married in 2 years, I think. (acting the way adult
does)
Rachel : Uhm, just my mom.

Social Influence on Michael and Rachel Speeh
Rachel : Im getting marry him.
Aunt : Youre gonna marry him?
Rachel : Uh-huh. (she seems really sure of what she says)
Aunt : Really? When are you gonna get married?
Rachel : When Im grown up.
Aunt : When you get grown up?
Rachel : Uh-huh.
Aunt : In like, five years?
Rachel : Uh-huh.
Aunt : Yeah? Okay.
Michael : Well, somebody just got married in 2 years, I think. (acting the way adult does)
Aunt : Really?
Michael : Uhhmm.
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From the conversations above, both Michael and Rachel get influence from people living
around them. They can be their parents, siblings, relatives, neighbors or even something that
they witness. From Michaels statement Well, somebody just got married in 2 years, I think
indicates that he and even Rachel have seen a wedding event or they ever purposelessly heard
adults conversation about marriage that makes them able to think about marriage. Michaels
face expression when he said it and Rachels when she said that she was going to marry him
seemed to be convincing.
However, as they are still in the phase of resembling what adults or older children, they still
cannot produce complex sentence on their own (Temple, C., Temple, F., Nathan, & Burris,
1993), thats the reason why the sentences that Michael and Rachel produce are still the
simple ones. In addition to it, Michael doesnt respond the aunts question about Rachels
statement on getting marry him within five years coherently through his statement.

Conclusion
Language acquisition is an important life stage during childhood. Whatever children meet or
hear in their daily lives will affect the way they speak as children tend to imitate the way
everyone in their social lives speaks. The Youtube video Im Getting Married shows that
Michael and Rachels language is not only the one children will normally use such as using
simple phrases or sentences with some interjections, pauses and prolonged tone, but also the
one that has gotten the influence from their social life such as talking about getting marry.

References
Alkaf, Farah & Pamela Thomas Joseph. Dysfluent Speech. www.speechelp.com/pdf/004_
dysfluent_speech.pdf (retrieved on January 15, 2014)
Bates E., Goodman J.C.. 1997. On The Inseparability of Grammar and The Lexicon:
Evidence From Acquisition, Aphasia, and Real-time Processing. Language and
Cognitive Processes.
Bruner, J. 1983. Child's Talk: Learning to Use Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cheshire, Jenny. 2005. Age and Generation-specific Use of Language. Queen Mary,
University of London.
de Villiers, J., Ph.D. 1979. Language Development. http://psychology.jrank.org/pages
/369/Language-Development.html (retrieved on January 14, 2013)
de Villiers, P., and J. de Villiers. 1979. Early Language. The Developing Child series.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
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DIMENSIONS. Educational Research Foundation. Developmental Milestones Ages Three,
Four & Five. http://www.dimensionsfoundation.org/media/Develomental_Milestones_
3to5.pdf. (retrieved on January 15, 2014).
Hoff, Erika. 2008. Language Development : 4 edition. Cengage Learning.
Johnston, J.R., Slobin, D.I. 1979. The Development of Locative Expressions in English,
Italian, Serbo-Croatian and Turkish. Journal of Child Language. 1979;6(3):529- 545.
Otto, B.. 2008. Literacy Development in Early Childhood: Reflective Teaching for Birth to
Age Eight 2008 edition, p. 42-43. Pearson.
Rescorla L. 1989. The Language Development Survey: A Screening Tool for Delayed
Language in Toddlers. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders.
Shelov , Steven P.. 2009. Caring for Your Baby and Young Child : Birth to Age 5. American
Academy of Pediatrics.
Temple, C., R. Nathan, F. Temple, N.A. Burris . 1993. The Beginnings of Writing 1993
edition, p. 3-7. Pearson.
WebMD. Speech and Language Development Age 3 to 5 Years.
http://children.webmd.com/guide/speech-and-language-development-age-3-to-5-years
(retrieved on January 14, 2014)
Wikipedia. Language Acquisition. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_acquisition
(retrieved on January 2, 2014).





Youtube Video Were Getting Married Transcription

Michael : ..-I-C-H-A-E-L!
Aunt : What is that spell?
Michael : Michael!
Aunt : And how old are you, Michael?
Michael : Foourr. (showing 4 with his fingers and blinks)
Aunt : Four? Can you count for me?
Michael : One, two, three, four, five, six, (showing 8), seven, eight, (pauses for a while
because he has no more fingers left but still continues counting), nine, ten.
Aunt : And why are you at Rachels house today?
Michael : Because its her partyyyy.
Aunt : Its her party?
Michael : Yeah, it isss.
Aunt : And how old is Rachel today?
Michael : Four.
Aunt : Four. Thats right. (Rachel comes, Aunt talks to Rachel) Can you give Michael a
hug?
Rachel : (comes to Michael and gives him a hug)
Michael : (hugs her back)
Aunt : Is Michael your friend?
Rachel : Uh-huh.
Aunt : Ohh..
Rachel : Im getting marry him.
Aunt : Youre gonna marry him?
Rachel : Uh-huh. (she seems really sure of what she says)
Aunt : Really? When are you gonna get married?
Rachel : When Im grown up.
Aunt : When you get grown up?
Rachel : Uh-huh.
Aunt : In like, five years?
Rachel : Uh-huh.
Aunt : Yeah? Okay.
Michael : Well, somebody just got married in 2 years, I think. (acting the way adult does)


Aunt : Really?
Michael : Uhhmm.
Aunt : Aah..
Rachel : My mom and Daad.
Aunt : Really?
Rachel : Uh-huh.
Aunt : Have you told your Daddy yet that youre gonna marry Michael?
Rachel : Uhm, just my mom.
Aunt : Just your mom?
Rachel : Uh-hm.
Aunt : Okay. Well, give him a kiss.
Rachel and Michael kissed. The looked embarrassed.
Aunt : Ooh..
Rachel : (Laughing)
Aunt : Thats nice, boy..