Psycholinguistic Study of Language Disorder in The Movie “MAMA”

Abstract

This study aims to describe the language disorder depicted in the major characters in the American horror movie “MAMA” according to Psycholinguistics study. The movie follows the story of two young girls, Victoria and Lilly, who are discovered living in a feral state after five years of isolation. Upon their return to civilization, the girls exhibit significant linguistic and behavioral abnormalities. Using the framework of the critical period hypothesis and theories of language acquisition, this analysis examines how prolonged isolation and supernatural influences impact the girls' language development. The data was taken from the conversation between major characters with the other characters in the movie “MAMA”. The researcher analyzed the data using the qualitative descriptive method with psycholinguistics approach and the data was presented in narrative form. The findings highlight the severe language impairments, including phonological and articulation disorder, absurd response, odd response marginal relevant response, and relevant but not polite response and also language disability as in robotic sounding speeches and ritualistic question and answer. This study underscores the importance of early language exposure and the potential long-term effects of deprivation, offering valuable insights into the depiction of language disorders in popular \media.