KAJIAN METABAHASA SEMANTIK ALAMI: BAHASA SUNDA ANAK

Abstract

The aim of this study is to identify and analyze the acquisition of Sundanese language for children at the age of 4-6 years. Based on the theory of Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) which reveals that children aged 4-6 years are able to understand and mastering universal semantic features and the primitive meaning in the process of acquiring semantics by children. This study discusses two important points 1) How to represent the acquisition of morphology of Sundanese language in children aged 4-6 years 2) How to represent the primitive meaning of children aged 4-6 years. The research method used in this research is descriptive qualitative. The results of the study show that: First, the mastery of Sundanese vocabulary for children aged 4-6 is dominated by verbs (44,07%) and followed by nouns (42,42%). Second, the primitival representation of meanings that have been produced by children 4-6 years has been able to reach 57 primitiva meanings from a total of 60 primitivative meanings in their speech. The primitivative meanings that are not produced by the child are the words NGALAKUKEUN ‘MELAKUKA’',RUPA 'MACAM' and BAGIAN ‘BAGEAN’ the non-appearance of meaning is caused by cognitive and knowledge limitations in the child. This research provide a contribution as a reference in planning Sundanese language learning in children in determining the design and curriculum for basic-level Sundanese language teaching. The conclusion of this research is, based on the results of the research that the vocabulary production of children aged 4-6 years is dominated by verbs, besides that, the meanings that the children have mastered are about 57 primitivas of a total of 60 primitiva