 What is First Language ?

First language is mother tongue. Mother tongue is traditional term for a person’s native
language that is, a language learned from birth. Also called a first language, dominant language,
home language, and native tongue. ( Richard Nordquist )
A first language (also mother tongue, native language, arterial language, or L1) is the
language a person first learns. First language means the language a person speaks best
(his second language is the language he speaks less well than his first language). ( Wikipedia )

 What is Language Acquisition?

Process the child begins to recognize verbal communication with its environment is called
language acquisition of children. The term used for the acquisition of British counterpart of the
term acquisition, namely the process of language acquisition by children naturally when he
learns his native language. (Dardjowidjojo, 2008:225).

Language acquisition is closely related to cognitive development, namely. first, if the child is
able to produce utterances which, based on the grammar which are neat, does not automatically
imply that the child has mastered the relevant languages well. Second, the speaker must obtain
the cognitive categories that underlie the various meanings expressive natural languages.

 Theories of Language Acquisition

Over the last fifty years, several theories have been put forward to explain the process by
which children learn to understand and speak a language. They can be summarized as
follows:

Theory Central Idea Individual most often

associated with theory

Behaviorist/ Children imitate adults. Their correct utterances Skinner

are reinforced when they get what they want or
imitation
are praised.

Innateness A child's brain contains special language- Chomsky

learning mechanisms at birth.
Cognitive Language is just one aspect of a child's overall Piaget
intellectual development.

Interaction This theory emphasizes the interaction between Bruner

children and their care-givers.

 Characteristics of first language acquisition

1) It is an instinct.

This is true in the technical sense, i.e. it is triggered by birth and takes its own
course, though of course linguistic input from the environment is needed for the child
to acquire a specific language. As an instinct, language acquisition can be compared
to the acquisition of binocular vision or binaural hearing.

2) It is very rapid.

The amount of time required to acquire one's native language is quite short,
very short compared to that needed to learn a second language successfully later on in
life.

3) It is very complete.

The quality of first language acquisition is far better than that of a second
language (learned later on in life). One does not forget one's native language (though
one might have slight difficulties remembering words if you do not use it for a long
time).

4) It does not require instruction.

Despite the fact that many non-linguists think that mothers are important for
children to learn their native language, instructions by parents or care-takers are
unnecessary, despite the psychological benefits of attention to the child.
  Development and Language Acquisition Process in some Field

1. Acquisition in the field Phonology

Child uses sounds that have been studied with the sounds that have not been studied, for
example, replace sound / l / that have been studied with the sound / r / that has not been studied.

2. Acquisition in the field of morphology

At the age of 3 years children have already formed several morphemes which show
grammatical function of nouns and verb used. Grammatical errors often occur at this stage
because children are still trying to say what he wants to convey. Children continue his to
improve his language until the age of ten years.

3. Acquisition in the field of syntax

Alamsyah (2007:21) mentions that children develop a level of grammatical sentences that are
generated through several stages, namely through imitation, through the classification of
morphemes, and through the preparation by way of putting words together to form sentences.

4. Acquisition in the field of Semantic

Children use certain words based on similarity of motion, size, and shape. For example,
children already know the meaning of the word clock. Originally referring to a child just
watches her parents, but then he used the word to all kinds of hours.

 Factors Affecting the Development of Language

Specifically identified a number of factors that influence language development, namely:

1. Cognition
High or low cognitive abilities of individuals will affect the language development faster than
the individual. This is relevant to the earlier discussion that there is a significant correlation
between a person's mind with the language.

2. Communication Pattern within the family

In a lot of family communication patterns are relatively democratic direction, or direct
interactions will accelerate the development of language families than those who apply the
communication and interaction otherwise.
3. Amount of child or family
A number of families with many children or many family members, the language development
of the child is faster, because the communication takes place varying compared with having
only a single child and no other members besides the core family.

4. Position of birth order

The child born in the middle position, his language development will be faster than firstborn
or youngest children. This is due to the middle child has a communication downward direction
only and youngest children have only the direction of communication upwards.

5. Billingualism
Children raised in families that use more than one language or better, The development of
language is more faster than using only one language because the kids accostumed to use.

 Beginning of language development

a) Pre birth

1. Has been scientifically proven that a baby Music can develop a baby’s brain.
2. can recognise the mothers voice.
3. Before the child is born it can recognize words.

b) Stage 1: Basic Biological Noise Stage (0-8 Weeks)

1. Child expresses itself through crying.

2. They show reflexive responses and not conscious responses.
3. Child starts with vowel ‘A’ sounds.
4. They learn to control their air stream mechanism.

c) Stage 2: Cooing & Laughing Stage (8-20 Weeks)

1. Make different cooing noises – e.g. ‘coo’, ‘goo’ ‘ga-ga’

2. Recognise parents faces and speech.
3. Towards the end of the stage they begin to string cooing noises.
4. They recognise language has a structure.
5. Learn to express themselves through laughing and chuckling.
6. Have control over their tongue.
 d) Stage 3: Vocal Play (20-30 Weeks)

1. Begin to use consonant and vowel sounds.

2. Able to adjust pitch.
3. playing and experimenting’

e) Stage 4: Babbling Stage (25-50 Weeks)

1. 2 types of babbling sounds-

2. Re-Duplicating- Repeat Sounds (example: Woof Woof)
3. Varigated- use different sound patterns and put them together.
4. The words have no meaning to the child as they think they are just making sounds.

f) Stage 5: Melodic Utterance Stage (10-13 Months)

1. A variation in rhythm, melody and tone is shown

2. The child begins to see some meaning to what they say.
3. Proto words used- when the child doesn’t say words it recognizes but realizes that words
are parts of a sound.

g) Age 12-18 Months

1. Developments occur rapidly.

2. Intonations used to show feelings and purpose.
3. Children begin to develop at different levels.
4. Single word utterances – concrete nouns
5. Holophrastic phrases – couple of words put together which have no grammatical concept
6. Child learns about 10-20 words each month.
7. Over extension – when child uses one word to describe lots of things.
8. no concept of differentiating, example: 4 legged object = dog
9. Under extension - have yet to acquire the knowledge that there are many numbers of the
same thing in the world ( example: lots of cars in world)
10. have yet to acquire the concept of concrete nouns.
11. Mismatch – get the name of something wrong (example: car = doll)
12. Begin to use modifiers so add extra words in front of another word (example: go sleep)

h) Age 18-24 Months

1. Have a vocabulary of 200 words – shows how quickly they are learning.
2. Pronunciation - some syllables dropped (example: tomato = mato)
3. Consonant clusters avoided i.e. sky - guy
4. Re-duplicate sounds (example: baby = baybay)
5. no consistency of speaking

Expressive Language Learning to Speak, and to Use Language

1. Birth
Newborn babies make sounds that let others know that they are experiencing pleasure or pain.

2. 0-3 Months
Your baby smiles at you when you come into view. He or she repeats the same sound a lot and
"coos and goos" when content. Cries "differentiate". That means, the baby uses a different cry
for different situations. For example, one cry says "I'm hungry" and another says "I have a
pain".

3. 4-6 months
Gurgling sounds or "vocal play" occur while you are playing with your baby or when they are
occupying themselves happily. Babbling really gets going in this age range, and your baby will
sometimes sound as though he or she is "talking". This "speech-like" babbling includes many
sounds including the bilabial (two lip) sounds "p", "b" and "m". The baby can tell you, using
sounds or gestures that they want something, or want you to do something. They can make
very "urgent" noises to prompt you into action.

4. 7-12 months
The sound of your baby's babbling changes. This is because it now includes more consonants,
as well as long and short vowels. He or she uses speech or other sounds (i.e., other than crying)
in order to get your attention and hold on to it. And your baby's first words (probably not spoken
very clearly) have appeared! ("MaMa", "Doggie", "Night Night", "Bye Bye")

5. 1-2 years
Now your baby is accumulating more words as each month passes. he or she will even ask 2-
word questions like "Where ball?" "What's that?" "More chippies?" "What that?", and combine
two words in other ways to make the Stage 1 Sentence Types ("Birdie go", "No doggie", "More
push"). Words are becoming clearer as more initial consonants are used in words.
 6. 2-3 years
Your two or three year old's vocabulary is exploding! He or she seems to have a word for
almost everything. Utterances are usually one, two or three words long and family members
can usually understand them. Your toddler may ask for, or draw your attention to something
by naming it ("Elephant") or one of its attributes ("Big!") or by commenting ("Wow!").

7. 3-4 years
Sentences are becoming longer as your child can combine four or more words. They talk about
things that have happened away from home, and are interested in talking about pre-school,
friends, outings and interesting experiences. Speech is usually fluent and clear and "other
people" can understand what your child is saying most of the time. If stuttering occurs, see a
speech-language pathologist. Stuttering is not a normal part of learning to talk, and neither is
persistent hoarseness.

8. 4-5 years
Your child speaks clearly and fluently in an easy-to-listen-to voice. He or she can construct
long and detailed sentences ("We went to the zoo but we had to come home early because Josie
wasn't feeling well"). He or she can tell a long and involved story sticking to the topic, and
using "adult-like" grammar. Most sounds are pronounced correctly, though he or she may be
lisping as a four year old, or, at five, still have difficulty with "r", "v" and "th". Your child can
communicate easily with familiar adults and with other children. They may tell fantastic "tall
stories" and engage strangers in conversation when you are out together.

 The Functions of Children Language

There are some of the functions of children’ language, namely:

1. Instrumental function
Child uses language to express needs and get what they want.
Example : want drink

2. Regulatory function
In this function that language is used to tell others what to do and child realizes language is a
useful tool as by using language they can get what they want.
Example : go away
3. Interactional function
Language which is used to communicate with other people and make a relationship.
Example : love you, daddy, thank you.

4. Personal function
- When the child used language to express feelings and opinions
- Realise language is more than demanding and get praised for using language.
Example : me good girl,
Those functions help the child to satisfy its physical, emotional and social need.

5. Heuristic function
Language is used to get info about the environment or world. Child uses language to ask
questions about everything and he/she is always seeking an answer.
Example : what that tractor doing?

6. Imaginative function
- Language is used to tell stories and to create an imaginary situation.
- Child is able to recognize an object can be called many things.
Example : creating an imaginary friend.

These functions help the child come to make interaction with the environment around them.

7. Informative function
- Child begins to use language to talk about kinds of new things.
- They learn to represent themselves using language.
Example : telling a story about what happened to them.

This function is representational stage where the child uses language to convey facts and
information.

Conclusion :
Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive,
produce and use words to understand and communicate. First language acquisition is the ability
of human to acquire their mother tongue from their early age. There are four theories to describe
the process of children in understanding and practicing their first language,
behaviorist/imitation, innateness, cognitive, interaction. The significance of first language
acquisition for children are to express needs and get what they want, used to tell others what to
do, and tell stories and to create an imaginary situation.