This document reports on a case study of the phonological acquisition of a child of deaf adults (CODA) in the Bengkala Deaf community in Bali, Indonesia. It presents data on the subject's acquisition of vowels, semivowels, and consonants between the ages of 1;7 and 2;7. The study found that the child acquired vowels and consonants in a predictable order. It suggests the child's genetic development and ability to communicate via sign language helped facilitate her language acquisition within her unique linguistic environment. The document calls for further research on topics like lexicon, pragmatics, discourse, bilingualism, and language input for CODAs.

1. Indonesian Phonological
Acquisition of a
Child of Deaf Adults (CODA)
in Bengkala Deaf Community, Bali
MADE HERY SANTOSA
Ganesha University of Education
Singaraja, Bali, Indonesia
madeherysantosa@yahoo.com

2. BACKGROUND
Importance of Language Acquisition Study
‘Normal’
condition of
subjects and
community
No studies in
‘special’ condition No studies in
of subjects and Indonesian
community language
acquisition in
Balinese context
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3. PROCEDURE
Approach and Design
A single observational case study design in an ethnographic approach
Subjects
Primary and Secondary Subjects
Data Sources Instrument Analysis Collection
•Interview Recorded • Researcher • Rich Interpretation Approach • Active
transcripts conversation • Research diary • In-field Analysis participant
•Participant • Journal • Triangulation: observation
observation field • Data sheet Data and Method • In-depth
notes • A video recorder interviews
•Photographs • A tape recorder
• A video player
• A digital camera
• A television
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4.  Vowels: 5  {[i], [ε], [a], [u], and [o]}
 Epenthesis: 3  {[ia], [ua], and [iu]}
 Consonants: 18  {[p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [g], [], [s],
[h], [c], [j], [m], [n], [], [ŋ], [l], [w], and [y]}.
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5. i u
o
ε
a
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6. No Vowels Utterance Pronunciation Age
1 [i] mik for mimik ‘drink’ [mik] 1;7:3
bis for habis ‘eaten up (cake)’ [bis] 1;8:4
2 [ε] men for permen ‘candy’ [mεn] 1;7:3
pen for pulpen ‘pen’ [pεn] 1;7:3
3 [a] nak for enak ‘delicious’ [nak] 1;7:2
jan for jajan ‘cake’ [jan] 1;11:3
ka for boneka ‘doll’ [ka] 1;10:3
4 [u] tup for tutup ‘close’ [tup] 1;7;3
cu for susu ‘milk’ [cu] 1;10:2
5 [o] bobok for bobo ‘sleep’ [bob] 1;10:1
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7.  [y]
 [w]
 Insertion of semivowels in vowel clusters
(epenthesis):
 [y] in [ia]
 [w] in [ua]
 [y] in [iu]
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8. No Semivowel Utterance Pronunciatio Age
s n
1 [y] in [ia] liyat for lihat ‘see’ [(y)at] 2;1:2
[li(y)at] 2;2:3
2 [w] in [ua] kuwat for biskuat ‘biskuat cake’ [ku(w)at] 1;8:3
kuwat for kuat ‘strong’ [ku(w)at] 1;9:4
3 [y] in [iu] ciyum for cium ‘kiss’ [(y)um] 2;1:3
[i(y)um] 2;6:2
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9. Alveo-
Bilabial Labio-Dental Alveolar Velar Glottal
Palatal
PA
-v +v -v +v -v +v -v +v -v +v -v +v
MA
Stop [p] [b] - - [t] [d] [c] [j] [k] [g] [] -
Fricative - - - - [s] - - - - - [h] -
Affricate - - - - - - - - - - - -
Nasal - [m] - - - [n] - [] - [ŋ] - -
Lateral - - - - - [l] - - - - - -
Trill - - - - - - - - - - - -
Semivowel - - - [w] - - - [y] - - - -
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10. No Consonant Utterance Pronunciation Age
s
1 [p] pen for pulpen ‘pen’ [pεn] 1;7:3
pat for empat ‘four’ [pat] 1;10:2
2 [b] bis for habis ‘eaten up (cake)’ [bis] 1;8;4
bobok for bobo ‘sleep’ [bob] 1;10:1
3 [m] mik for mimik ‘drink’ [mik] 1;7:3
maem for maem ‘eat’ [maem] 1;7:3
mang for komang ‘her cousin’ [maŋ] 1;11:4
4 [t] tup for tutup ‘close’ [tup] 1;9:2
atu for batu ‘stone’ [atu] 1;9:3
tak for minta ‘ask’ [ta] 1;10:1
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11. 5 [d] dak for tidak ‘no’ [dak]; 1;8:3
[ndak]
dah for dadah ‘bye bye’ [dah] 1;9:4
6 [s] bis for habis ‘eaten up (cake)’ [bis] 1;10:2
sil for pensil ‘pencil’ [sil] 1;10:2
oyis for toris ‘tourist’ [oyis] 1;11:1
7 [c] cu for susu ‘milk’ [cu] 1;10:2
cak for cecak ‘a small house lizard’ [cak] 1;11:1
8 [j] jan for jajan ‘cake’ [jan] 1;11:3
9 [n] nan for mainan ‘play around’ [nan] 1;12:3
nok for nyonyok ‘her mother’s breasts’ [n] 1;8:4
10 [l] lis for tulis ‘write’ [lis] 1;12:4
lang for hilang ‘gone’ [laŋ] 2;1:1
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12. 11 [] nyok for nyonyok ‘her mother’s breasts’ [] 2;3:3
nyi for nyanyi ‘sing’ [] 2;7:2
12 [y] oyis for toris ‘tourist’ [oyis] 1;11:1
liyat for lihat ‘see’ [(y)at] 2;1:2
[li(y)at] 2;2:3
13 [k] ka for boneka ‘doll’ [ka] 1;10:3
kak for buka ‘open’ [ka] 2;2:4
14 [g] gik for gik ‘action of riding a horse’ [gik] 2;3:3
gus for sugus ‘sugus candy’ [gus] 2;3:4
15 [] kak for buka ‘open’ [ka] 2;2:4
nyok for nyonyok ‘her mother’s breasts’ [] 2;3:3
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13. 16 [ŋ] ngah for tengah ‘middle’ [ŋah] 2;4:1
nga for bunga ‘flower’ [uŋa] 2;4:3
17 [w] kuwat for biskuat ‘biskuat cake’ [ku(w)at] 1;8:3
wan for lawan ‘fight’ [wan] 2;4:4
18 [h] dah for dadah ‘bye bye’ [dah] 1;9:4
ngah for tengah ‘middle’ [ŋah] 2;4:1
hus for hus ‘action to scare the small house lizard’ [hus] 2;5:2
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14.  Genetic schedule of a child affects the acquisition of certain
aspects in particular language.
 A child will be ready to produce certain aspects i.e. vowels
whenever his or her neurobiological system is mature.
 The acquisition of these phonological aspects certainly helps
her to communicatively speak to her hearing surroundings
since she is hearing, having normal hearing organs.
 Her ability to sign with the accompaniment of the acquisition
of those vowels surely helps her when speaking to her deaf
family to be effective and communicative.
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15.  Chronologically, children’s schedule of acquiring certain aspects of
particular languages may be different since their biological
composition is different to each other.
 However, biologically, this will not differ so significantly as long as
the children are ‘mature’.
 This means that the order of acquiring Indonesian, for example
vowels, will not be different in any children acquiring Indonesian.
 It is only a matter of when certain vowels are acquired.
 Especially for hearing children born from deaf parents in Bengkala,
as long as the condition is similar, the researcher believes that they
will undergo similar stages and processes as Ayu had when
acquiring Indonesian, Balinese and kata kolok.
 Her acquisition of kata kolok, a sign language of Bengkala, will serve
as her fundamental concept of communication when interacting
effectively with her surroundings, especially to the deaf.
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16.  Wider and deeper studies on particular
topics, like lexicon acquisition, pragmatic
acquisition, discourse acquisition,
bilingualism (or following its term, spoken-
sign bilingualism) and input .
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