Caretaker Speech Simplifies Language

Caretaker Speech
Intoduction
In the daily life, the center of children’s speech environtment is their parents (or caretakers). What
their parents say to children provide the with inforation about stucture and functionn of the
languange the are require. Children can acquire the language because they have adequate physical
and cognitive endowment. From birth they are well equipped to perceive human speech. However it
takes them several years to learn to correctly produce the speech sounds of their languange. In
general, people talk to one another in order to be understood. They want their listeners to
understand what they are saying. The popular terms for this speech is a caretaker speech and devide
into three major parts : first the part deals with the notion of caretaker speech, second part describe
to the part of caretaker speech and third is part deals with baby talk.
1. The Notion of Care Taker Speech

Caretaker speech is a sort of speech that children receive when they are still very young. In
other words, caretaker speech is a speech addressed to infants by adults. Caretakers speech
is also often referred to as motherese, care giver speech, adult to child language (ACL) and
child directed speech (CDS).
Clark and Clark(1977:321) further argue that adult’s speech to children is influenced by
three factors. First, adults have to make sure that children realize a speech is being
addressed to them. To do this they use a name, a special tone of voice, or even get their
attention by touching them. Second, once they have the children easly understand them.
Adults certainly do not talk about science or philosophy, rather they talk about what
children are doing, looking at, or playing with at that moment. Third, they say what they
have to say in many different ways.
Adults use different ways to get children’s attention. Clark and Clark (1997:321-322) explain
that adults usually use three types of attention getters : names, eclamation, and
modulations. First, adults very often use the child’s name at the beginning of their speech.
This is even an affective way to make them attend. For examples : Fian, there is a car ; Hanif,
here is your carr ; Reza is this car yours, etc.
2. Characteristic of Care Taker Speech
The speech which adults addressed to young childrenn has a number of ditinctive
characteristics. As mentioned before that adults generally talk to young children about here
and now (Clark and Clark, 1977:322). They talk about what is happening in the immediate
environment, about their surrounding and not about abstract or remote objects and events.
Their speech usually has the following characteritics. Caretaker speech tends to consist of
short sentences with simple structure. The vocabulary used by adults is simple and restricted
and giuded by assumptions below :.
1. Some words are easier for children to pronounce the others
2. Some words are more useful for children than others
3. Some words are hard to understand and best avoided
Adults generally exaggerate intonation and use a slower tempo and frequently repeat or
rephrase what they or their children say. For examples, they tend to used higher pitch,
slower speech, with more and clearer pauses between and place more distinctive stress on
words than they do when speaking with other adults (Steinberg, 1998: 22; Steinberg, et al.,
2004:38)
3. Baby Talk
Baby talk is very special, but limited, instance of caretaker speech. Baby talk often involves
the use of vocabulary which is over simplified and reduced. There are at least three forms of
baby talk : a diminutive form of adult’s word, an anomatopoeic fom, and an addition pf the
sound /iy/ to adult’s words ending in a consonant.
According to Kess (1999: 336), baby talk only fulfills a pseudo-function in linguistic terms. It
is only a marker of affection and carring, this fucntion is supported by the finding that bebies
typically refers voices that employ baby talk features. Even a similar speech that is a
nurturant talk (coined by Lavin, Snow and Lee in Kess, 1999:336) has been used by male and
female care givers in hospital. Such nurturant talk is often adressed to children of all ages
(up to 9 years old) who are sick, uncomfortable, or distresses, and in need of special
nurturance. Any parents in the world generally seem to like using this special talk. It also
appears to be a universally occuring natural phenomon. In addition, children seem to get
advantage from it. It helps children to acquire language since it is clearer and easier to
understand
Summary
The language addressed to very young children by parents or other adults is called a caretaker
speech. It becomes the concern of psycholinguisticts since it has specific characteristics. It is
generally spoken more slowly and distinctly. It contains simple structures and very few complex
sentences. The baby talk has three characteristics : (1) the use of diminutive from of adults
words with a reduplication of a consonant + vowel syllable unit; (2) the use of onamatopoeic
principle to form words : and (3) the use of the /iy/ suffix as in doggy and horsy. Caretaker
speech seems particulary well suited for helping children to acquire languange. It is clearer and
easier to understand. It is simplified structure and vocabullary provides children with more
comprehensible input. Such input is surely an important factor in the language development.
Questions and Items for Study and Discussion
1. What is care taker speech and what are other terms which refer to this particular speech:
explain why is it named so?
2. Give some reason why caretaker speech has attracted great attention of psycholinguistics !
3. Disscuss the different ways adults use to get childern’s attention.
4. The speech which adults address to young children has a number of distrinctive
characteristics : explain !
5. According to Kess, baby talk only fulfills a pseudo-function in linguistic terms. What does it
mean?
6. Observe a kid’s speech for at least six months. Collect his/her speech by note taking or
recording every 5 days. Using the theory of care taker speech, describe the caracteristic of
his/her speech.
Answers
1. Caretaker speech is a sort of speech that children receive when they are still very young. In
other words, caretaker speech is a speech addressed to infants by adults.
2. Because it provides the example of language model infants are usually exposed to and to
provide an indirect measure of how much children understand.
3. Used intonation and use a slower tempo and frequently repeat or rephrase what they or
their children say. For examples, they tend to used higher pitch, slower speech, with more
and clearer pauses between and place more distinctive stress on words than they do when
speaking with other adults.
4. a. Some words are easier for children to pronounce the others
b. Some words are more useful for children than others
c. Some words are hard to understand and best avoided
5. It mean babies talk features even a smilar speech that is an nurturant talk is often adressed
to children of all ages (up to 9 years old) who are sick, uncomfortable, or distresses, and in
need of special nurturance. Any parents in the world generally seem to like using this special
talk. It also appears to be a universally occuring natural phenomon.
6. (1) the use of diminutive from of adults words with a reduplication of a consonant + vowel
syllable unit; (2) the use of onamatopoeic principle to form words : and (3) the use of the
/iy/ suffix as in doggy and horsy etc.

Caretaker Speech Simplifies Language

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Caretaker Speech

1. The Notion of Care Taker Speech

Questions and Items for Study and Discussion

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