Gestures in language acquisition

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Gestures in language acquisition are a form of non-verbal communication involving movements of the hands, arms, and/or other parts of the body. Children can use gesture to communicate before they have the ability to use spoken words and phrases. In this way gestures can prepare children to learn a spoken language, creating a bridge from pre-verbal communication to speech. [1] [2] The onset of gesture has also been shown to predict and facilitate children's spoken language acquisition. [3] [4] Once children begin to use spoken words their gestures can be used in conjunction with these words to form phrases and eventually to express thoughts and complement vocalized ideas. [4]

Contents

Gestures not only complement language development but also enhance the child’s ability to communicate. Gestures allow the child to convey a message or thought that they would not be able to easily express using their limited vocabulary. Children's gestures are classified into different categories occurring in different stages of development. The categories of children's gesture include deictic and representational gestures. [5]

Signs versus gestures

Gestures are distinct from manual signs in that they do not belong to a complete language system. [6] For example, pointing through the extension of a body part, especially the index finger to indicate interest in an object is a widely used gesture that is understood by many cultures [7] On the other hand, manual signs are conventionalized—they are gestures that have become a lexical element in a language. A good example of manual signing is American Sign Language (ASL)–when individuals communicate via ASL, their signs have meanings that are equivalent to words (e.g., two people communicating using ASL both understand that forming a fist with your right hand and rotating this fist using clockwise motions on the chest carries the lexical meaning of the word "sorry"). [8]

Deictic gestures

Typically, the first gestures children show around 10 to 12 months of age are deictic gestures. These gestures are also known as pointing where children extend their index finger, although any other body part could also be used, to single out an object of interest. [5] Deictic gestures occur across cultures and indicate that infants are aware of what other people pay attention to. Pre-verbal children use pointing for many different reasons, such as responding to or answering questions and/or sharing their interests and knowledge with others. [9]

There are three main functions to infant's pointing:

  1. Imperative – this type of deictic gesture develops first and children use it to obtain something (the speech equivalent would be saying "give me that").
  2. Declarative – this type of deictic gesture develops later than imperative gestures and directs an adult's attention to an object or event to indicate its existence (the speech equivalent would be saying "look at that"). Declarative pointing is expressive and can be used by the child to draw attention to an interesting object and share this interest with another person. Declarative pointing can also be informative where the child is providing the other person with information. This type of gesture is typically absent in autistic children's gesture repertoires. [10]
  3. Epistemic – this type of deictic gesture also develops after imperative gestures and may develop at the same time as declarative gestures. These type of gestures serve as an epistemic request wherein infants may point to an object in order for an adult to provide new information, like a name, to an object (the speech equivalent would be saying "what is that"). [2]

The existence of deictic gestures that are declarative and epistemic in nature reflects another important part of children's development, the development of joint visual attention. Joint visual attention occurs when a child and an adult are both paying attention to the same object. [11] Joint attention through the use of pointing is considered a precursor to speech development because it reveals that children want to communicate with another person. [5] Furthermore, the amount of pointing at 12 months old predicts speech production and comprehension rates at 24 months old. [11] In children with autism spectrum disorder, the use of right-handed gestures—particularly deictic gestures—reliably predicts their expressive vocabularies 1 year later—a pattern also observed in typically-developing children. [12]

Once children can produce spoken words they often use deictic gestures to create sentence-like phrases. These phrases occur when a child, for example, says the word "eat" and then points to a cookie. The incidence of these gesture-word combinations predicts the transition from one-word to two-word speech. [4] This shows that gesture can maximize the communicative opportunities that children can have before their speech is fully developed facilitating their entrance into lexical and syntactic development. [11] [13]

Representational gestures

Representational gesture refers to an object, person, location, or event with hand movement, body movement, or facial expression. [14] Representational gestures can be divided into iconic and conventional gestures. Unlike deictic gestures, representational gestures communicate a specific meaning. [14] [15] Children start to produce representational gestures at 10 to 24 months of age. [16] Young American children will produce more deictic gestures than representational gestures, [14] but Italian children will produce almost equal amounts of representational and deictic gestures. [15]

Iconic gestures

Iconic gestures have visually similar relationship to the action, object, or attribute they portray. [7] There is an increase in iconic gesturing after the two-word utterance stage at 26 months. [16] Children are able to create novel iconic gestures when they were attempting to inform the listener of information they think the listener does not know. Iconic gestures aided language development after the two-word utterance stage, whereas deictic gestures did not. [17] Iconic gestures are the most common form of representational gesture in Italian children. [7] [17] Children will copy the iconic gestures they see their parents using, [15] therefore including iconic gestures when measuring representational vocabularies increases Italian children's vocabularies. [7] [17] Even though the Italian children produced more iconic gestures, the two-word utterance stage did not arrive earlier than American children who produce fewer iconic gestures. [7]

Conventional gestures

Conventional gestures are culture-bound emblems that do not translate across different cultures. [14] Culture-specific gestures such as shaking your head "no" or waving "goodbye" are considered conventional gestures. [14] Although American children do not typically produce many representational gestures in general, conventional gestures are the most frequently used in the representational gesture category. [7] [17]

Timeline of gesture development

Like most developmental timelines it is important to consider that no two children develop at the same pace. Infant gesture is thought to be an important part of the prelinguistic period and prepares a child for the emergence of language. [18] It has been suggested that language and gesture develop in interaction with one another. [19] It is believed that gestures are easier to produce for both infants and adults; [19] this is supported by the fact that infants begin to communicate with gestures before they can produce words. [18] The first type of gestures that appear in infants are deictic gestures. [18] Deictic gestures include pointing, which is often the most common gesture produced at ten months of age. [16] [20] At eleven months of age children can produce a sequence of 2 gestures, usually a deictic gesture with a conventional or representational gesture. [21] and by twelve months of age children can begin to produce 3-gestures in sequence usually a representational or conventional gesture that is preceded and followed by a deictic gesture. [21] Around twelve months of age, infants begin to use representational gestures. [18] In relation to language acquisition, representational gestures appear around the same time as first words. [20] At age 18 months children produce more deictic gestures than representational gestures. [22] Between the first and second year of life, children begin to learn more words and use gestures less. [20] At 26 months of age, there is an increase in iconic gesture use and comprehension. [21] Gestures become more complex as children get older. Between age 4-6 children can use whole body gestures when describing a route. [21] A whole body gesture occurs in three-dimensional space and is used when the speaker is describing a route as if they are on it. [21] At ages 5–6, children also describe a route from a bird's eye view and use representational gestures from this point of view. [21] The ways in which gestures are used are an indication of the developmental or conceptual ability of children. [23]

Augmentative and alternative communication

Not only do gestures play an important role in the natural development of spoken language, but they also are a major factor in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). AAC refers to the methods, tools, and theories to use non-standard linguistic forms of communication by and with individuals without or with limited functional speech. [6] Means used to communicate in AAC can span from high-tech computer-based communication devices, to low-tech means such as one-message switches, to non-tech means such as picture cards, manual signs, and gestures. [6] It is only within the last two decades that the importance of gestures in the cognitive and linguistic development processes has been examined, and in particular the gesture's functionality for individuals with communication disorders, especially AAC users.

See also

Related Research Articles

Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language, as well as to produce and use words and sentences to communicate.

Baby sign language is the use of manual signing allowing infants and toddlers to communicate emotions, desires, and objects prior to spoken language development. With guidance and encouragement signing develops from a natural stage in infants development known as gesture. These gestures are taught in conjunction with speech to hearing children, and are not the same as a sign language. Some common benefits that have been found through the use of baby sign programs include an increased parent-child bond and communication, decreased frustration, and improved self-esteem for both the parent and child. Researchers have found that baby sign neither benefits nor harms the language development of infants. Promotional products and ease of information access have increased the attention that baby sign receives, making it pertinent that caregivers become educated before making the decision to use baby sign.

Symbolic communication is the exchange of messages that change a priori expectation of events. Examples of this are modern communication technology and the exchange of information amongst animals. By referring to objects and ideas not present at the time of communication, a world of possibility is opened. In humans, this process has been compounded to result in the current state of modernity. A symbol is anything one says or does to describe something, and that something can have an array of many meanings. Once the symbols are learned by a particular group, that symbol stays intact with the object. Symbolic communication includes gestures, body language and facial expressions, as well as vocal moans that can indicate what an individual wants without having to speak. Research argues that about 55% of all communication stems from nonverbal language. Symbolic communication ranges from sign language to braille to tactile communication skills.

Gesture Form of non-verbal communication or non-vocal communication

A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication or non-vocal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of, or in conjunction with, speech. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or other parts of the body. Gestures differ from physical non-verbal communication that does not communicate specific messages, such as purely expressive displays, proxemics, or displays of joint attention. Gestures allow individuals to communicate a variety of feelings and thoughts, from contempt and hostility to approval and affection, often together with body language in addition to words when they speak. Gesticulation and speech work independently of each other, but join to provide emphasis and meaning.

Babbling

Babbling is a stage in child development and a state in language acquisition during which an infant appears to be experimenting with uttering articulate sounds, but does not yet produce any recognizable words. Babbling begins shortly after birth and progresses through several stages as the infant's repertoire of sounds expands and vocalizations become more speech-like. Infants typically begin to produce recognizable words when they are around 12 months of age, though babbling may continue for some time afterward.

Baby talk is a type of speech associated with an older person speaking to a child. It is also called caretaker speech, infant-directed speech (IDS), child-directed speech (CDS), child-directed language (CDL), caregiver register, parentese, or motherese.

A language delay is a language disorder in which a child fails to develop language abilities at the usual age-appropriate period in their developmental timetable. It is most commonly seen in children from two to seven years-old and can sometimes continue into late childhood. The reported prevalence of language delay is not agreed upon and ranges from 2.3 to 19 percent.

Vocabulary development Process of learning words

Vocabulary development is a process by which people acquire words. Babbling shifts towards meaningful speech as infants grow and produce their first words around the age of one year. In early word learning, infants build their vocabulary slowly. By the age of 18 months, infants can typically produce about 50 words and begin to make word combinations.

Home sign is a gestural communication system, often invented spontaneously by a deaf child who lacks accessible linguistic input. Home sign systems often arise in families where a deaf child is raised by hearing parents and is isolated from the Deaf community. Because the deaf child does not receive signed or spoken language input, these children are referred to as linguistic isolates.

Speech delay, also known as alalia, refers to a delay in the development or use of the mechanisms that produce speech. Speech – as distinct from language – is the actual process of making sounds, using such organs and structures as the lungs, vocal cords, mouth, tongue, teeth, etc. Language delay refers to a delay in the development or use of the knowledge of language.

Language development in humans is a process starting early in life. Infants start without knowing a language, yet by 10 months, babies can distinguish speech sounds and engage in babbling. Some research has shown that the earliest learning begins in utero when the fetus starts to recognize the sounds and speech patterns of its mother's voice and differentiate them from other sounds after birth.

Bootstrapping is a term used in language acquisition in the field of linguistics. It refers to the idea that humans are born innately equipped with a mental faculty that forms the basis of language. It is this language faculty that allows children to effortlessly acquire language. As a process, bootstrapping can be divided into different domains, according to whether it involves semantic bootstrapping, syntactic bootstrapping, prosodic bootstrapping, or pragmatic bootstrapping.

Child development

Child development involves the biological, psychological and emotional changes that occur in human beings between birth and the conclusion of adolescence. Childhood is divided into 3 stages of life which include early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence. Early childhood typically ranges from infancy to the age of 6 years old. During this period, development is significant, as many of life's milestones happen during this time period such as first words, learning to crawl, and learning to walk. There is speculation that middle childhood, or ages 6–13 are the most crucial years of a child's life, ranging from the starts of some sorts of formal schooling to the beginning of puberty, and this is also the period where many children start to gain a more sense of self. Adolescence, is the stage of life that typically starts around the time puberty hits, all the way up until legal adulthood. In the course of development, the individual human progresses from dependency to increasing autonomy. It is a continuous process with a predictable sequence, yet has a unique course for every child. It does not progress at the same rate and each stage is affected by the preceding developmental experiences. Because genetic factors and events during prenatal life may strongly influence developmental changes, genetics and prenatal development usually form a part of the study of child development. Related terms include developmental psychology, referring to development throughout the lifespan, and pediatrics, the branch of medicine relating to the care of children.

Phonological development refers to how children learn to organize sounds into meaning or language (phonology) during their stages of growth.

Joint attention When two people focus on something at once

Joint attention or shared attention is the shared focus of two individuals on an object. It is achieved when one individual alerts another to an object by means of eye-gazing, pointing or other verbal or non-verbal indications. An individual gazes at another individual, points to an object and then returns their gaze to the individual. Scaife and Bruner were the first researchers to present a cross-sectional description of children's ability to follow eye gaze in 1975. They found that most eight- to ten-month-old children followed a line of regard, and that all 11- to 14-month-old children did so. This early research showed it was possible for an adult to bring certain objects in the environment to an infant's attention using eye gaze.

Prelingual deafness refers to deafness that occurs before learning speech or language. Speech and language typically begin to develop very early with infants saying their first words by age one. Therefore, prelingual deafness is considered to occur before the age of one, where a baby is either born deaf or loses hearing before the age of one. This hearing loss may occur for a variety of reasons and impacts cognitive, social, and language development.

A late talker is a toddler experiencing late language emergence (LLE). LLE can also be an early or secondary sign of an autism spectrum disorder, or other developmental disorders, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, intellectual disability, learning disability, social communication disorder, or specific language impairment. Late talkers are children who are intellectually abled, but do not show signs of normal language development for their age. Lack of language development, comprehension skills and challenges with literacy skills are potential risks as late talkers age. Outlook for late talkers with or without intervention is generally favorable. Toddlers have a high probability of catching up to typical toddlers if early language interventions are put in place. Language interventions include general language stimulation, focused language stimulation and milieu teaching.

Intention is a mental state that represents a commitment to carrying out an action or actions in the future. Intention involves mental activities such as planning and forethought.

Pointing Gesture

Pointing is a gesture specifying a direction from a person's body, usually indicating a location, person, event, thing or idea. It typically is formed by extending the arm, hand, and index finger, although it may be functionally similar to other hand gestures. Types of pointing may be subdivided according to the intention of the person, as well as by the linguistic function it serves.

Jana Marie Iverson is a developmental psychologist known for her research on the development of gestures and motor skills in relation to communicative development. She has worked with various populations including children at high risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), blind individuals, and preterm infants. She is currently a professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh.

References

  1. ↑ Namy, Laura L.; Waxman, Sandra R. (1998-04-01). "Words and Gestures: Infants' Interpretations of Different Forms of Symbolic Reference". Child Development. 69 (2): 295–308. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1998.tb06189.x . ISSN   1467-8624. PMID   9586206.
  2. 1 2 Kovács, Ágnes Melinda; Tauzin, Tibor; Téglás, Ernő; Gergely, György; Csibra, Gergely (2014-11-01). "Pointing as Epistemic Request: 12-month-olds Point to Receive New Information". Infancy. 19 (6): 543–557. doi:10.1111/infa.12060. ISSN   1532-7078. PMC   4641318 . PMID   26568703.
  3. ↑ Goodwyn, Susan W.; Acredolo, Linda P.; Brown, Catherine A. (2000-06-01). "Impact of Symbolic Gesturing on Early Language Development". Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 24 (2): 81–103. doi:10.1023/A:1006653828895. ISSN   0191-5886.
  4. 1 2 3 Özçalışkan, Şeyda; Goldin-Meadow, Susan (2005-07-01). "Gesture is at the cutting edge of early language development". Cognition. 96 (3): B101–B113. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2005.01.001. PMID   15996556.
  5. 1 2 3 McNeill, David (1992). Hand and Mind: What Gestures Reveal About Thought. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. pp. 295–328.
  6. 1 2 3 Loncke, F. (2013). Augmentative and Alternative Communication: Models and applications for educators, speech-language pathologists, psychologists, caregivers, and users. San Diego, CA: Plural Publishing Inc.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Iverson, Jana M.; Capirci, Olga; Volterra, Virginia; Goldin-Meadow, Susan (2008-05-01). "Learning to talk in a gesture-rich world: Early communication in Italian vs. American children". First Language. 28 (2): 164–181. doi:10.1177/0142723707087736. ISSN   0142-7237. PMC   2744975 . PMID   19763226.
  8. ↑ ""sorry" American Sign Language (ASL)". www.lifeprint.com. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  9. ↑ Vallotton, Claire (2012). "Support or competition? Dynamic development of the relationship between manual pointing and symbolic gestures from 6 to 18 months of age". In Colletta, Jean-Marc; Guidetti, Michele (eds.). Gesture and Multimodal Development. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co. pp. 27–48. ISBN   9789027273925.
  10. ↑ Cochet, Helene; Vauclair, Jacques (2012). "Pointing gesture in young children: Hand preference and language development". In Colletta, Jean-Marc; Guidetti, Michele (eds.). Gesture and Multimodal Development. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co. pp. 7–26. ISBN   9789027273925.
  11. 1 2 3 Butterworth, George (1998). "What is special about pointing in babies?". In Simion, Francesca; Butterworth, George (eds.). The Development of Sensory, Motor, and Cognitive Capacities in Early Infancy. United Kingdom: Psychology Press Ltd. pp. 171–190. ISBN   978-0-86377-512-3.
  12. ↑ Dimitrova, Nevena; Mohr, Christine; Özçalışkan, Şeyda; Adamson, Lauren B. (2019-12-23). "Early Lateralization of Gestures in Autism: Right-Handed Points Predict Expressive Language". Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. doi:10.1007/s10803-019-04347-9. ISSN   0162-3257.
  13. ↑ Morgenster, Aliyah; Caet, Stephanie; Collumbel-Leroy, Marie; Limousin, Fanny; Blondel, Marion. (2012). "From gesture to sign and from gesture to word". In Colletta, Jean-Marc; Guidetti, Michele. Gesture and Multimodal Development. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co. pp. 49–78. ISBN   9789027273925.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 Iverson, Jana M.; Capirci, Olga; Caselli, M. Cristina (1994-01-01). "From communication to language in two modalities". Cognitive Development. 9 (1): 23–43. doi:10.1016/0885-2014(94)90018-3.
  15. 1 2 3 Iverson, Jana M.; Capirci, Olga; Longobardi, Emiddia; Cristina Caselli, M. (1999-01-01). "Gesturing in mother-child interactions". Cognitive Development. 14 (1): 57–75. doi:10.1016/S0885-2014(99)80018-5.
  16. 1 2 3 Behne, Tanya; Carpenter, Malinda; Tomasello, Michael (2014). "Young children create iconic gestures to inform others". Developmental Psychology. 50 (8): 2049–2060. doi:10.1037/a0037224. PMID   24979473.
  17. 1 2 3 4 Gullberg, Marianne (2010). Gestures in Language Development. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Pub. Co. pp. 3–33.
  18. 1 2 3 4 De Bot, Kees; Gullberg, Marianne (2010). Gestures in Language Development. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co. pp. 6–11. ISBN   9789027222589.
  19. 1 2 Kendon, Adam; Gullberg, Marianne; Seyfeddinipur, Mandana (2014). From Gesture In Conversation To Visible Action As Utterance: Essays In Honor Of Adam Kendon. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 332. ISBN   9789027212153.
  20. 1 2 3 Stefanini, Silvia; Bello, Arianna; Caselli, Maria Cristina; Iverson, Jana M.; Volterra, Virginia (2009-02-01). "Co-speech gestures in a naming task: Developmental data". Language and Cognitive Processes. 24 (2): 168–189. doi:10.1080/01690960802187755. ISSN   0169-0965.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ishino, Mika; Stam, Gale (2011). Integrating Gestures : The Interdisciplinary Nature of Gesture. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co. pp. 111–112. ISBN   9789027228451.
  22. ↑ Fasolo, Mirco; D'Odorico, Laura (2012). "Gesture-plus-word combinations, transitional forms, and language development". Gesture. 12: 1–15. doi:10.1075/gest.12.1.01fas.
  23. ↑ Iverson, Jana M.; Goldin-Meadow, Susan (2005-05-01). "Gesture Paves the Way for Language Development". Psychological Science. 16 (5): 367–371. doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.01542.x. ISSN   0956-7976. PMID   15869695.
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