The type of shared activity shapes caregiver and infant communication
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Daniel Puccini
Abstract
For the beginning language learner, communicative input is not based on linguistic codes alone. This study investigated two extralinguistic factors which are important for infants’ language development: the type of ongoing shared activity and non-verbal, deictic gestures. The natural interactions of 39 caregivers and their 12-month-old infants were recorded in two semi-natural contexts: a free play situation based on action and manipulation of objects, and a situation based on regard of objects, broadly analogous to an exhibit. Results show that the type of shared activity structures both caregivers’ language usage and caregivers’ and infants’ gesture usage. Further, there is a specific pattern with regard to how caregivers integrate speech with particular deictic gesture types. The findings demonstrate a pervasive influence of shared activities on human communication, even before language has emerged. The type of shared activity and caregivers’ systematic integration of specific forms of deictic gestures with language provide infants with a multimodal scaffold for a usage-based acquisition of language.
Abstract
For the beginning language learner, communicative input is not based on linguistic codes alone. This study investigated two extralinguistic factors which are important for infants’ language development: the type of ongoing shared activity and non-verbal, deictic gestures. The natural interactions of 39 caregivers and their 12-month-old infants were recorded in two semi-natural contexts: a free play situation based on action and manipulation of objects, and a situation based on regard of objects, broadly analogous to an exhibit. Results show that the type of shared activity structures both caregivers’ language usage and caregivers’ and infants’ gesture usage. Further, there is a specific pattern with regard to how caregivers integrate speech with particular deictic gesture types. The findings demonstrate a pervasive influence of shared activities on human communication, even before language has emerged. The type of shared activity and caregivers’ systematic integration of specific forms of deictic gestures with language provide infants with a multimodal scaffold for a usage-based acquisition of language.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- About the authors ix
- Gesture and multimodal development 1
- Pointing gesture in young children 7
- Support or competition? 27
- From gesture to sign and from gesture to word 49
- How the hands control attention during early word learning 79
- Infant movement as a window into language processing 99
- Children’s lexical skills and task demands affect gestural behavior in mothers of late-talking children and children with typical language development 129
- The type of shared activity shapes caregiver and infant communication 157
- Transcribing and annotating multimodality 175
- Mathematical learning and gesture 199
- Index 221
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- About the authors ix
- Gesture and multimodal development 1
- Pointing gesture in young children 7
- Support or competition? 27
- From gesture to sign and from gesture to word 49
- How the hands control attention during early word learning 79
- Infant movement as a window into language processing 99
- Children’s lexical skills and task demands affect gestural behavior in mothers of late-talking children and children with typical language development 129
- The type of shared activity shapes caregiver and infant communication 157
- Transcribing and annotating multimodality 175
- Mathematical learning and gesture 199
- Index 221
