Human is one of God’s perfect creations. Studying about human is a never ending journey. One of subjects which can be interesting is human language. As influenced by various aspects such as environment and culture, its development, from the baby’s to adult’s stages, offers numerous amazing parts to be observed. Those include sounds, word formations, sentence structures, meanings conveyed, etc. The scientific study of human language is called linguistics.

Linguistics has attracted me since my second year pursuing my Bachelor’s Degree at a Faculty of Cultural Studies. A high interest on the subject has led me to take Master’s Degree in it. The wide scope of the study has offered so much knowledge that is applicable for both personal and professional fields.

For personal fields, for instance, I use the knowledge to observe my baby girl’s speech and language development at her 0 – 19 months old. This, however, can be different from other children’s.

@coos

@babbles:

na na na na na na

ta ta ta ta ta

da da da da da

ba ba ba ba ba

bu bu bu bu

pu pu pu pu

ma ma ma ma ma

pa pa pa pa pa

@single word:

kakak, bapak

@combined words/short simple sentence:

bu kan (ibu makan)

num bi (minum Ruby)

bapak pulam (pulang)

tas bu

For the sentence structure, a kind of inverted structure occurs frequently, e.g. duduk bi; minum bi.

@Phonological acquisitions:

*Vowel acquisition stages: a-u-i-e-o

*Consonant acquisition stages: n-t-d-p-b-m-k-c  

*The first diphthongs acquired: [ai] e.g. (tupai); [ui] e.g. [tidui]; [oi] e.g. (pentoi]

*Final consonant sound changes:

[r] – [ui] e.g. tidur – [tidui]

[l] – [oi] e.g. pentol – [pentoi]

*Final double consonant sound changes: [ng] – [m] e.g. kumbang-> (kumbam]

*Middle consonant changes [l] – [y] e.g. peluk – [peyuk]

Doing this short observation helps me to check whether my daughter has reached the standard cognitive development of the age or not.

Meanwhile, for professional fields, I apply the linguistic knowledge, for instance, when communicating with co-workers and clients directly (oral) or indirectly (written). Moreover, it is surely essential for reading and analyzing the articles, papers, and journals I am working on.

Shortly, studying human language provides benefits for my life.

–kacabiru–