Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T02:38:58.876Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Gestures and words during the transition to two-word speech*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Olga Capirci ,
Jana M. Iverson ,
Elena Pizzuto  and
Virginia Volterra
Olga Capirci*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychology CNR, Rome
Jana M. Iverson
Affiliation:
The University of Chicago
Elena Pizzuto
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychology CNR, Rome
Virginia Volterra
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychology CNR, Rome
*
Istituto di Psicologia CNR, Reparto di Neuropsicologia del Linguaggio e Sordità, Via Nomentana 56, 00161 Rome, Italy.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study explores the communicative use of the gestural and vocal modalities by normally developing Italian children during the transition from one- to two-word speech. We analysed the spontaneous production of 12 children at 1;4 and at 1;8, focusing on the use of two-element combinations of words and/or gestures. Results indicated that use of gesture and gesture-word combinations during the transition to two-word speech is a robust feature of communicative development across a relatively large number of children in a rich gestural culture, and that the number of gesture-word and two-word combinations increased significantly from 1;4 to 1;8. Number of gestures and gesture-word combinations produced at 1;4 was also predictive of total vocal production at 1;8. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of gesture as a transitional device en route to two-word speech.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , October 1996 , pp. 645 - 673
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

[*]

Portions of this paper were presented at the 17th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, 23–25 October 1992, at the Biennial Meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development, New Orleans, 25–28 March 1993, and at the 9th International Conference on Infant Studies, Paris, 2–5 June 1994. The authors would like to thank Emiddia Longobardi and Cristiana Patrizi for assistance with data collection, Anna Paola Ercolani for statistical advice, Paolo Desideri for assistance with statistical analyses and tables and Martha Alibali, Elizabeth Bates, John Bonvillian, Maria Cristina Caselli, Susan Goldin-Meadow, Adam Kendon, Marc Marschark, Leslie Rescorla, Donna Thal, Amanda Woodward, Robert Wozniak and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. The research was supported by a Rotary Foundation Scholarship and a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship to Iverson and by funding from the CNR Targeted Project ‘FATMA – Prevention and Disease Control Factors’.

References

REFERENCES

Acredolo, L. & Goodwyn, S. (1988). Symbolic gesturing in normal infants. Child Development 59, 450–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Acredolo, L. & Goodwyn, S. (1990). Sign language in babies: the significance of symbolic gesturing for understanding language development. In Vasta, R. (ed.), Annals of Child Development. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, Ltd.Google Scholar
Bates, E., Benigni, L., Bretherton, I., Camaioni, L. & Volterra, V. (1979). The emergence of symbols: cognition and communication in infancy. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bates, E., Camaioni, L. & Volterra, V. (1975). The acquisition of performatives prior to speech. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 21, 205–26.Google Scholar
Bonvillian, J., Orlansky, M. & Folven, R. (1990). Early sign language acquisition: implications for theories of language acquisition. In Volterra, V. & Erting, C. J. (eds), From gesture to language in hearing and deaf children. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Brown, R. (1973). A first language – the early stages. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butcher, C. M. & Goldin-Meadow, S. (1993, 03). From one word to two: exploring the changing role of gesture. Paper presented at the Biennial Meetings for the Society for Research in Child Development,New Orleans, LA.Google Scholar
Camaioni, L., Caselli, M. C., Longobardi, E. & Volterra, V. (1991). A parent report instrument for early language assessment. First Language 11, 345–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caselli, M. C. (1983). Communication to language: deaf children's and hearing children's development compared. Sign Language Studies 39, 113–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caselli, M. C. & Volterra, V. (1990). From communication to language in hearing and deaf children. In Volterra, V. & Erting, C. J. (eds), From gesture to language in hearing and deaf children. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Caselli, M. C., Volterra, V. & Pizzuto, E. (1984, 04). The relationship between vocal and gestural communication from the one-word to the two-word stage. Paper presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies,New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, E. V. (1978). From gesture to word: on the natural history of deixis in language acquisition. In Bruner, J. S. & Garton, A. (eds), Human growth and development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
De Jorio, A. (1832). La mimica degli antichi investigata nel gestire napoletano. Napoli (reprinted 1979, Sala Bolognese (BO): Arnaldo Forni Editore).Google Scholar
Diadori, P. (1990). Senza parole: 100 gesti degli Italiani. Rome: Bonacci.Google Scholar
Erting, C. & Volterra, V. (1990). Conclusion. In Volterra, V. & Erting, C. J. (eds), From gesture to language in hearing and deaf children. New York: Springer Verlag.Google Scholar
Folven, R. & Bonvillian, J. D. (1991). The transition from nonreferential to referential language in children acquiring American Sign Language. Developmental Psychology 27, 806–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldin-Meadow, S. & Morford, M. (1985). Gesture in early child language: studies of deaf and hearing children. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 31, 145–76.Google Scholar
Goldin-Meadow, S. & Morford, M. (1990). Gesture in early child language. In Volterra, V. & Erting, C. J. (eds), From gesture to language in hearing and deaf children. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Goodwyn, S. & Acredolo, L. (1993). Symbolic gesture versus word: is there a modality advantage for the onset of symbol use? Child Development 64, 688–701.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iverson, J. M., Capirci, O. & Caselli, M. C. (1994). From communication to language in two modalities. Cognitive Development 9, 23–43.Google Scholar
Kendon, A. (1995). Gestures as illocutionary and discourse structure markers in Southern Italian conversation. Journal of Pragmatics 23, 1–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kratochwill, T. R. & Wetzel, R. J. (1977). Observer agreement, credibility, and judgment: some considerations in presenting observer agreement data. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 10, 133–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lock, A. J. (1980). The guided reinvention of language. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Lock, A., Young, A., Service, V. & Chandler, P. (1990). Some observations on the origin of the pointing gesture. In Volterra, V. & Erting, C. J. (eds), From gesture to language in hearing and deaf children. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Lyons, J. (1977). Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Maratsos, M. (1983). Some current issues in the study of the acquisition of language. In Mussen, P. (ed), Carmichael's manual of child psychology. New York: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Morford, M. & Goldin-Meadow, S. (1992). Comprehension and production of gesture in combination with speech in one-word speakers. Journal of Child Language 19, 559–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Munari, B. (1994). Il dizionario dei gesti italiani. Bergamo: Adnkronos (first edition Supplemento al Dizionario Italiano. Milano: Muggiani, 1963).Google Scholar
Nelson, K. (1973). Structure and strategy in learning to talk. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 38 (1–2, Serial No. 149).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petitto, L. (1990). The transition from gesture to symbol in American Sign Language. In Volterra, V. & Erting, C. J. (eds), From gesture to language in hearing and deaf children. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Pizzuto, E. (1990). The early development of deixis in American Sign Language: what is the point? In Volterra, V. & Erting, C. J. (eds), From gesture to language in hearing and deaf children. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Sears, R. R., Rau, L. L. & Alpert, R. (1965). Identification and child rearing. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Slobin, D. I. (1985). The crosslinguistic study of language acquisition, Vols I & II. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Thal, D. & Tobias, S. (1992). Communicative gestures in children with delayed onset of oral expressive vocabulary. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 35, 1281–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Volterra, V. (1981). Gestures, signs, and words at two years: when does communication become language? Sign Language Studies 33, 113–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Volterra, V. & Erting, C. J. (1990). From gesture to language in hearing and deaf children. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Volterra, V. & Iverson, J. M. (1995). When do modality factors affect the course of language acquisition? In Emmorey, K. & Reilly, J. (eds) Language, sign, and space. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar