A Case Study of Morphological Errors Made by the Cambodian Child in First Language Acquisition

Abstract

Morphology, the study of word formation and structure, plays a crucial role in first language acquisition as infants and young children learn the morphological rules and patterns of their native language, occasionally making morphological errors during this process. This study aims to identify, classify, and determine the cause of morphological errors made by a Cambodian child in first language acquisition at the age of two and a half years old. This study was based on Corder (1973), Brown. (2014), Muthanna (2014) category of error analysis models as omission, substitution, addition and others. The Cambodian child was selected after two and a half years old to be representative among Cambodian children with a moderate standard of living. The data collection was analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively using numbers and descriptive statistics and presented in frequency table and percentage according to the surface structure taxonomy. This study found four types of morphological errors made by a Cambodian kid in first language acquisition at the age of two-and-a-half years old. There were omissions (16.67%), additions (13.33%), reduplications (36.67%), and substitutions (33.33%). In contrast, the cause of errors is when children delete the part of a word that should exist and add, repeat, and substitute the part of a word from/into speech. The study emphasizes the pivotal role of parents in supporting their child's language development by focusing on linguistic aspects and suggests that schools should incorporate dedicated morphology courses to enhance language acquisition, with teachers equipped to guide children effectively in understanding language intricacies, especially in mother tongue acquisition.