Co-development of child-mother gestures over the second and the third years

Abstract

This study looks at whether there is a relationship between mother and infant gesture production. Specifically, it addresses the extent of articulation in the maternal gesture repertoire and how closely it supports the infant production of gestures. Eight Spanish mothers and their 1-and 2-year-old babies were studied during 1 year of observations. Maternal and child verbal production, gestures and actions were recorded at their homes on five occasions while performing daily routines. Results indicated that mother and child deictic gestures (pointing and instrumental) and representational gestures (symbolic and social) were very similar at each age group and did not decline across groups. Overall, deictic gestures were more frequent than representational gestures. Maternal adaptation to developmental changes is specific for gesturing but not for acting. Maternal and child speech were related positively to mother and child pointing and representational gestures, and negatively to mother and child instrumental gestures. Mother and child instrumental gestures were positively related to action production, after maternal and child speech was partialled out. Thus, language plays an important role for dyadic communicative activities (gesture-gesture relations) but not for dyadic motor activities (gesture-action relations). Finally, a comparison of the growth curves across sessions showed a closer correspondence for mother-child deictic gestures than for representational gestures. Overall, the results point to the existence of an articulated maternal gesture input that closely supports the child gesture production.

Hand preferences in preschool children: Reaching, pointing and symbolic gestures

“…Goodwyn, Acredolo, & Brown, 2000), but contrary to pointing gestures, their frequency decreased after the second year of life (e.g. Rodrigo et al, 2006). Symbolic gestures have an arbitrary and convention-based relationship with their referent, therefore representing a direct form of language (e.g.…”

Communication in the second and third year of life: Relationships between nonverbal social skills and language

“…However, the characteristics of the language-gesture relationship may vary according to the nature of gestures, starting with the classical distinction between symbolic and deictic gestures (e.g., Liszkowski, 2008). The production of symbolic gestures, which decreases as speech develops (e.g., Acredolo & Goodwyn, 1988;Rodrigo et al, 2006), has been argued to facilitate the early stages of language acquisition (e.g., Goodwyn, Acredolo, & Brown, 2000); whereas pointing gestures may play a primary role in different milestones of language development, including in the ability to combine several words (e.g., Capirci, Iverson, Pizzuto, & Volterra, 1996;Rowe & Goldin-Meadow, 2009), explaining why the frequency of pointing, produced in combination with words or vocalizations, increases during the second year of life (e.g., Özç aliskan & Goldin-Meadow, 2005;Guidetti, 2002).…”

Symbols Build Communication and Thought: The Role of Gestures and Words in the Development of Engagement Skills and Social‐emotional Concepts during Toddlerhood

“…Despite evidence of a positive relationship between infants' pointing and language development, Rodrigo, González, and Ato (2006) found that during later toddlerhood pointing and other instrumental gestures are negatively related to language. That is, although pointing is a central tool for communication in infancy, those pointing more often during toddlerhood are usually not yet using more specific representational gestures and words.…”