ACQUISITION OF CONCRETE NOUNS BY 2-5-YEAR OLD CHICHEWA L1 SPEAKING PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

Abstract

Despite having studies on acquisition of concrete nouns, it is not clear how children acquire different categories of concrete nouns in Bantu languages. This is because most studies have concentrated on English language. Considering that the noun structure in English language is different from the noun structure in Bantu languages, the findings on noun acquisition in English language might not be applicable to the acquisition of Bantu nouns. Therefore, this study purposed to investigate how concrete nouns were acquired by 2-5-year old Chichewa L1 speaking preschool children. Being an experimental design, the research used quantitative approach. However, qualitative approach was used to clarify the quantitative data. The research had 40 participants sampled through simple random sampling. Data was collected through stimulus naming. The collected data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Categorisation model was used to explain the acquisition of concrete nouns. It was established that the acquisition of concrete nouns in Chichewa starts with the recognition of the existence and function of a noun. This is followed by the acquisition of the superordinate features at around 2-years. The acquisition of the superordinate features is followed by the acquisition of the subordinate features of the concrete nouns. It has been observed that this is most common among 4-and 5-year olds although the behaviour is also present among 3-years olds for the most common concrete nouns. The study has further found out that the category of items used at home is acquired early in all age groups. This is followed by the category of human body parts, then the category of food items. The category of animals is acquired last. Lastly, the study results show that there is a correlation between age and acquisition of concrete nouns. As the age of the Chichewa L1 speaking preschool children increases, the acquisition of the four categories of concrete nouns also increases. Thus, vocabulary on concrete nouns increases as children grow up.