CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This research is introduced in this chapter. This chapter is divided into five
partsbackground, formulation of the problems, operational definitions, aims of
the research and uses of the research. The first part is background that shows the
background of this research. The second part is formulation of the problems that
have two formulates. The third part is operational definitions that includes three
operational definitionsfirst language acquisition, word meaning and overextension. The fourth part is aims of the research that have two aims in this
research. The last part is uses of the research that includes theoretical, practical
and empirical use.
A. Background
Each sound produced by children since they were infants is the prime
focus for parents. Whatever the soundscrying, cooing or babbling will
attract people's attention around the infants. The steps that should be passed by
them since they were infants in acquiring language are phonology
development, vocabulary development, morphology development, syntactic
development and semantic development. When they pass those steps, they
face some problems. This is in line with Nelson as quoted by Clark, Herbert
H. and Eve V. Clark (1977:492) that argue, In the first year, new words are
added slowly and by age two amount to a vocabulary of fifty or so. As stated
by Clark, Herbert H. and Eve V. Clark (1977:492) that say, From then on,
words are added much more rapidly. In this early period, over-extensions are
1

common. It means that over-extension appears together with the increasing

children's vocabulary.
One of the problems happened is over-extension. Over-extension occurs
about one year. After the childrens age about 2;6 years old, over-extension
decreases when they know and understand more the words. According to
Clark, Herbert H. and Eve V. Clark (1977:497),
Children usually stop over-extending their words at about the age of 2;6. It
is at this point that they start to ask innumerable What(s) that? questions
and to expand their vocabulary at a much faster rate. As they acquire
new words, they narrow down over-extensions and build up semantic fields
of words for various conceptual domains.
First language acquisition is popular topic in psycholinguistics that
attracts many linguists attention. One of the problems that attracts many
linguists is over-extension. For instance, Hampton (1996) studies about
Conjunctions

of

Visually

Based

Categories:

Overextension

and

Compensation. Hampton (1996:395) concludes, The phenomena of

overextension and category dominance may also be found with categories of
visual stimuli classified along familiar conceptual dimensions. Hampton
researches whether over-extension occurs to the things based on the color,
letter, and shape.
This research discuss children over-extension that occurs at the age of 1;8
to 3;9 years old. It is discussed the component of the things which focuses not
only based on color, letter and shape but also based on size, movement and
texture. Whereas letter will not be discussed because children at the age of 1;8
to 3;9 usually do not know letters.
Based on the experts opinion and the problem stated previously, the
researcher observe the analysis of word meaning over-extension in childrens

first language acquisition at the age of 1;8 to 3;9 years old at one day care in
Tasikmalaya that has not been conducted yet in English Department of
Siliwangi University Tasikmalaya.
B. Formulation of the Problems
Based on the problems explained in background, the writer formulates the
problems as follow:
1. Do the children at the age of 1;8 to 3;9 years old face the over-extension?
2. How do the children overextending meaning at the age of 1;8 to 3;9
years old develop based on things components?
C. Operational Definitions
To avoid misunderstanding, the writer explains the following operational
definitions related to this research,
1. First language acquisition
: The process of acquiring language happened
to children when they learn their native
2. Word meaning

language.
: One of the stage processes in acquiring
language that is passed by children in

3. Over-extension

understanding a word.
: Overextending meaning of words by
children based on things components
happened to children at the age of 1;8 to
3;9 years old.

D. Aims of the Research

The aims of this research are to know:
1. over-extension of children at the age of 1;8 to 3;9 years old;
2. the things components in over-extension that happen to children at the age
of 1;8 to 3;9 years old.
E. Uses of the Research
The uses of this research are:

1. Theoretical Use
It will give the contribution on the development of psycholinguistics study
for the experts and the other people.
2. Practical Use
It will give general information about over-extension happened to children
for the teachers or nannies at the Day Care that will be informed to their
parents. When the teachers or nannies know the over-extension happens to
children, they must introduce the objects more to children to decrease the
over-extension.
3. Empirical Use
It will improve the researchers experiences on the first language
acquisition and furthermore about over-extension happened on the
children.