John Benjamins Publishing Company
From action to spoken and signed language through gesture
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Abstract
We review major developmental evidence on the continuity from action to gesture to word and sign in human children, highlighting the important role of caregivers in the development of multimodal communication. In particular, the basic issues considered here and contributing to the current debate on the origins and development of the language-ready brain are: (1) links between early actions, gestures and words and similarities in representational strategies; (2) importance of multimodal communication and the interplay between gestures and spoken words; (3) interconnections between early actions, gestures and signs. The innovation of this report is in connecting these themes together to relevant findings from studies on children between 6 and 36 months of age and highlighting interesting parallels in studies on ape communicative behavior.
Abstract
We review major developmental evidence on the continuity from action to gesture to word and sign in human children, highlighting the important role of caregivers in the development of multimodal communication. In particular, the basic issues considered here and contributing to the current debate on the origins and development of the language-ready brain are: (1) links between early actions, gestures and words and similarities in representational strategies; (2) importance of multimodal communication and the interplay between gestures and spoken words; (3) interconnections between early actions, gestures and signs. The innovation of this report is in connecting these themes together to relevant findings from studies on children between 6 and 36 months of age and highlighting interesting parallels in studies on ape communicative behavior.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introducing the Volume 1
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An Old Road Map to Draw Upon
- Computational challenges of evolving the language-ready brain 7
- Computational challenges of evolving the language-ready brain 22
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Starting from the Macaque
- Reflections on the differential organization of mirror neuron systems for hand and mouth and their role in the evolution of communication in primates 38
- Plasticity, innateness, and the path to language in the primate brain 54
- Voice, gesture and working memory in the emergence of speech 70
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Bringing in Emotion
- Relating the evolution of Music-Readiness and Language-Readiness within the context of comparative neuroprimatology 86
- Why do we want to talk? 102
- Mind the gap – moving beyond the dichotomy between intentional gestures and emotional facial and vocal signals of nonhuman primates 121
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Turn-taking and Prosociality
- From sharing food to sharing information 136
- Social manipulation, turn-taking and cooperation in apes 151
- Language origins 167
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Imitation, Pantomime and Development
- The evolutionary roots of human imitation, action understanding and symbols 183
- Pantomime and imitation in great apes 200
- From action to spoken and signed language through gesture 216
- Praxis, symbol and language 239
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Action, Tool Making and Language
- Archaeology and the evolutionary neuroscience of language 256
- Tracing the evolutionary trajectory of verbal working memory with neuro-archaeology 272
- From actions to events 289
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Meaning and Grammar Emerging
- From evolutionarily conserved frontal regions for sequence processing to human innovations for syntax 318
- The evolution of enhanced conceptual complexity and of Broca’s area 336
- Mental travels and the cognitive basis of language 352
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The Road Map
- The comparative neuroprimatology 2018 (CNP-2018) road map for research on How the Brain Got Language 370
- Index 389
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introducing the Volume 1
-
An Old Road Map to Draw Upon
- Computational challenges of evolving the language-ready brain 7
- Computational challenges of evolving the language-ready brain 22
-
Starting from the Macaque
- Reflections on the differential organization of mirror neuron systems for hand and mouth and their role in the evolution of communication in primates 38
- Plasticity, innateness, and the path to language in the primate brain 54
- Voice, gesture and working memory in the emergence of speech 70
-
Bringing in Emotion
- Relating the evolution of Music-Readiness and Language-Readiness within the context of comparative neuroprimatology 86
- Why do we want to talk? 102
- Mind the gap – moving beyond the dichotomy between intentional gestures and emotional facial and vocal signals of nonhuman primates 121
-
Turn-taking and Prosociality
- From sharing food to sharing information 136
- Social manipulation, turn-taking and cooperation in apes 151
- Language origins 167
-
Imitation, Pantomime and Development
- The evolutionary roots of human imitation, action understanding and symbols 183
- Pantomime and imitation in great apes 200
- From action to spoken and signed language through gesture 216
- Praxis, symbol and language 239
-
Action, Tool Making and Language
- Archaeology and the evolutionary neuroscience of language 256
- Tracing the evolutionary trajectory of verbal working memory with neuro-archaeology 272
- From actions to events 289
-
Meaning and Grammar Emerging
- From evolutionarily conserved frontal regions for sequence processing to human innovations for syntax 318
- The evolution of enhanced conceptual complexity and of Broca’s area 336
- Mental travels and the cognitive basis of language 352
-
The Road Map
- The comparative neuroprimatology 2018 (CNP-2018) road map for research on How the Brain Got Language 370
- Index 389
