Chapter 8. Symbolic distancing in three-year-old children’s object-use pantomime
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Paula Marentette
Abstract
Children’s early pantomime of how to use objects is thought to demonstrate “symbolic distancing,” ostensibly providing an opportunity to observe the development of symbolic reference between the ages of three- and six-years. This chapter argues, in contrast, that the modes of representation used by three-year-olds may be better explained by item, task, and communicative factors revealing children’s functional knowledge of objects and social knowledge of communicative conventions rather than symbolic development. Detailed analysis of the children’s manual mode of representation in conjunction with their speech challenges assumptions about which forms are viewed as more or less pantomimic. Interpretation of iconicity may be a function of human adult convention; we discuss the implications for our understanding of the role of iconic gestures depicting object-use in communicative situations.
Abstract
Children’s early pantomime of how to use objects is thought to demonstrate “symbolic distancing,” ostensibly providing an opportunity to observe the development of symbolic reference between the ages of three- and six-years. This chapter argues, in contrast, that the modes of representation used by three-year-olds may be better explained by item, task, and communicative factors revealing children’s functional knowledge of objects and social knowledge of communicative conventions rather than symbolic development. Detailed analysis of the children’s manual mode of representation in conjunction with their speech challenges assumptions about which forms are viewed as more or less pantomimic. Interpretation of iconicity may be a function of human adult convention; we discuss the implications for our understanding of the role of iconic gestures depicting object-use in communicative situations.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction. Perspectives on pantomime 1
- Chapter 1. Pantomime within and beyond the evolution of language 16
- Chapter 2. The relations of demonstration and pantomime to causal reasoning and event cognition 58
- Chapter 3. Narrative and pantomime at the origin of language 78
- Chapter 4. Two types of bodily-mimetic communication 100
- Chapter 5. Can pantomime narrate? 115
- Chapter 6. The pantomimic origins of the narrative arts 139
- Chapter 7. The pantomime roots of Sao Tome and Principe Sign Language 159
- Chapter 8. Symbolic distancing in three-year-old children’s object-use pantomime 188
- Chapter 9. Gestural mimesis as “as-if” action 217
- Index 243
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction. Perspectives on pantomime 1
- Chapter 1. Pantomime within and beyond the evolution of language 16
- Chapter 2. The relations of demonstration and pantomime to causal reasoning and event cognition 58
- Chapter 3. Narrative and pantomime at the origin of language 78
- Chapter 4. Two types of bodily-mimetic communication 100
- Chapter 5. Can pantomime narrate? 115
- Chapter 6. The pantomimic origins of the narrative arts 139
- Chapter 7. The pantomime roots of Sao Tome and Principe Sign Language 159
- Chapter 8. Symbolic distancing in three-year-old children’s object-use pantomime 188
- Chapter 9. Gestural mimesis as “as-if” action 217
- Index 243
