A Study of utterances produced by a babysitter in talking to an Indonesian Chinese descent baby in Surabaya

Pangestu, Lulu Prawiro (2000) A Study of utterances produced by a babysitter in talking to an Indonesian Chinese descent baby in Surabaya. Bachelor thesis, Petra Christian University.

Abstract

This study is about the way an adult has a verbal communication with a 20-month-old baby. The writer of this thesis focuses her study on the language functions produced by the babysitter's utterances in her daily conversations with the baby. The study of language function is elaborated into the investigations of clause patterns constructed in the babysitter's utterances and the types of words used in her utterances. In this study, the writer observes and records the conversations between the babysitter and the baby for a month and there are six conversations got from this investigation, By separating the babysitter's utterances and considering the context in which the utterances occur, the writer is able to identify what language functions served in each utterance. As the next step of analysis, the writer identifies the clause patterns of each utterance and lists the types of words which have die lexical content The findings shows that there are indeed certain features which characterize the way the babysitter talks to the baby. By investigating the language functions, the babysitter's utterances serve mainly 'asking', 'instructing', and 'reporting' function and from the clause patterns constructed in her utterances, there are repetitions and simplification found. It is also discovered mat mere is the use of baby-talk words in her utterances.

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