Article published In:
How the Brain Got Language: Towards a New Road MapEdited by Michael A. Arbib
[Interaction Studies 19:1/2] 2018
► pp. 216–238
Edited by Michael A. Arbib
[Interaction Studies 19:1/2] 2018
► pp. 216–238
From action to spoken and signed language through gesture
Some basic developmental issues for a discussion on the evolution of the human language-ready brain
Virginia Volterra | Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC), National Research Council (CNR) of Italy
Olga Capirci | Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC), National Research Council (CNR) of Italy
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.
Keywords: child development, communication, multimodality, actions, gestures, words, signs
Article outline
- Introduction
- 1.From action to gesture and word
- 1.1Links between early motor skills and gestures
- 1.2Early action and gesture ‘‘Vocabulary’’ and its relationship to word comprehension and production
- 2.Representational techniques across elicited pantomime in children, communicative gestures and sign languages
- 3.Similarities between gestures and signs
- 4.Toward a new road map
-
References
References (48)
Antinoro Pizzuto, E., Rossini, P., Sallandre, M. A. & Wilkinson, E. (2006). Deixis, anaphora and highly iconic structures: Cross-linguistic evidence on American (ASL), French (LSF) and Italian (LIS) signed languages. TISLR9 (pp. 475–495). Editora Arara Azul, Brazil.
Arbib, M. A., Ganesh, V. & Gasser, B. (2014). Dyadic Brain Modeling, Ontogenetic Ritualization of Gesture in Apes, and the Contributions of Primate Mirror Neuron Systems. Phil Trans Roy Soc B, 369 (1644), 20130414. 
Arbib, M. A. (2016). Towards a Computational Comparative Neuroprimatology: Framing the language-ready brain. Physics of Life Reviews, 161, 1–54.
Arbib, M. A. & Rizzolatti, G. (1997). Neural expectations: A possible evolutionary path from manual skills to language. Communication and Cognition, 291, 393–424.
Bates, E., Camaioni, L. & Volterra, V. (1975). The acquisition of performatives prior to speech. Merril Palmer Quarterly, 211, 205–226.
Bello, A., Giannantoni, P., Pettenati, P., Stefanini, S. & Caselli, M. C. (2012). Assessing lexicon: validation and developmental data of the Picture Naming Game (PiNG), a new picture naming task for toddlers. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 471, 589–602.
Boyatzis, C. J. & Watson, M. W. (1993). Preschool children’s symbolic representation of objects through gestures. Child Development, 641, 729–735.
Boyes Braem, P. (1981). Features of the handshape in American Sign Language. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, San Diego.
Brentari, D., Di Renzo, A., Keane, J. & Volterra, V. (2014). Cognitive, Cultural, and Linguistic Sources of a Handshape Distinction Expressing Agentivity. Topics in Cognitive Science 1–29.
Capirci, O., Contaldo, A., Caselli, M. C. & Volterra, V. (2005). From Action to language through gesture: a longitudinal perspective, Gesture, 51, 155–177.
Capirci, O., Cristilli, C., De Angelis, V. & Graziano, M. (2011). Learning to use gesture in narratives: developmental trends in formal and semantic gesture competence. In G. Stam & M. Ishino (Eds.) Integrating Gestures (pp. 189–200), Amsterdam/Philadelphia, John Benjamins.
Capirci, O., Iverson, J. M., Pizzuto, E. & Volterra, V. (1996). Gestures and words during the transition to two-word speech. Journal of child language, 231, 645–673.
Capobianco, E., Antinoro Pizzuto, E. & Devescovi, A. (2017). Gesture–speech combinations and early verbal abilities. New longitudinal data during the second year of age. Interaction Studies 18(1), 55–76. .
.Caselli, M. C. & Volterra, V. (1994). From communication to language in hearing and deaf children. In V. Volterra & C. J. Erting (Eds.) From Gesture to Language in Hearing and Deaf Children (pp. 263–277). 2nd ed., Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.
Caselli, M. C. (1990). Communicative gestures and first words. In V. Volterra, & C. J. Erting (Eds.), From gesture to Language in Hearing and Deaf Children (pp. 56–67). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Caselli, M. C., Rinaldi, P., Stefanini, S. & Volterra, V. (2012). Early Action and Gesture ‘‘Vocabulary’’ and Its Relation With Word Comprehension and Production. Child Development, 831, 526–542.
Clark, H. H. (2016). Depicting as a method of communication. Psychological review, 123(3), 324–347.
Corballis, M. C. (2002). From hand to mouth. The origins of language. Princeton, Princeton University Press.
Cuxac, C. (2000). La langue des signes française (LSF): les voies de l’iconocité (No. 15–16). Ophrys.
Enfield, N. J. (2001). ‘Lip-pointing’: A discussion of form and function with reference to data from Laos. Gesture, 1(2), 185–211.
Goldin-Meadow, S. & Butcher, C. (2003). Pointing toward two-word speech in children. In S. Kita (Ed.), Pointing: where language, culture and cognition meet (pp. 85–107). Mahwah, N.J.: Erlbaum.
Gretscher, H., Tempelmann, S., Haun, D. B. M., Liebal, K. & Kaminski, J. (2017). Prelinguistic human infants and great apes show different communicative strategies in a triadic request situation. PLoS ONE 12, 4, e0175227.
Halina, M., Rossano, F. & Tomasello, M. (2013). The ontogenetic ritualization of bonobo gestures. Animal cognition, 16(4), 653–666.
Iverson, J. M., Capirci, O. & Caselli, M. C. (1994). From communication to language in two modalities. Cognitive Development, 91, 23–43.
Iverson, J. M. & Thelen, E. (1999). Hand, mouth, and brain: The dynamic emergence of speech and gestures. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 61, 19–40.
Kendon, A. (2014). Semiotic diversity in utterance production and the concept of ‘language’. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 3691, 20130293.
Kita, S. (Ed.) (2003). Pointing: Where language, culture, and cognition meet. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Leavens, D. A. (2004). Manual deixis in apes and humans. Interaction Studies, 5(3), 387–408.
Liddell, S. K. & Metzger, M. (1998). Gesture in sign language discourse. Journal of Pragmatics, 301, 657–697.
Liebal, K. (2016). The ontogeny of great ape gesture – not a simple story: comment on “Towards a computational comparative neuroprimatology: framing the language-ready brain” by M.A. Arbib. Physics of Life Reviews, 161, 85–87.
Marentette, P. & Nicoladis, E. (2012). Does ontogenetic ritualization explain early communicative gestures in human infants? In S. Pika & K. Liebal (Eds.). Developments in Primate Gesture Research (pp. 33–53). John Benjamins Publishing Company
Marentette, P., Pettenati, P., Bello, A. & Volterra, V. (2016). Gesture and symbolic representation in Italian and English-speaking Canadian two-year-olds. Child Development, 87(3), 944–961.
McNeill, D. (1992). Hand and mind. What the hands reveal about thought. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Newman, A. J., Supalla, T., Fernandez, N., Newport, E. L. & Bavelier, D. (2015). Neural systems supporting linguistic structure, linguistic experience, and symbolic communication in sign language and gesture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112(37), 11684–89.
Occhino, C. & Wilcox, S. (2017). Gesture or sign? A categorization problem. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40, e66.
Padden, C. A., Meir, I., Hwang, S. O., Lepic, R., Seegers, S. & Sampson, T. (2013). Patterned iconicity in sign language lexicons. Gesture, 13(3), 287–308.
Pettenati, P., Stefanini, S. & Volterra, V. (2010). Motoric characteristics of representational gestures produced by young children in a naming task. Journal of Child Language, 37(4), 887–911.
Piaget, J. (1945). La formation du symbole chez l’enfant: Imitation, jeu et rêve, image et representation. Neuchatel; Paris: Delachaux et Niestlé.
Reddy, V. (2003). On being the object of attention: implications for self–other consciousness. TRENDS in Cognitive Sciences, 7(9), 397–402.
Russon, A. E. & Andrews, K. A. (2011). Pantomime in great apes: evidence and implications. Communicative and Integrative Biology, 4(3), 315–317.
Pettenati, P., Sekine, K., Congestrì, E. & Volterra, V. (2012). A comparative study on representational gestures in Italian and Japanese children. Journal of Non Verbal Behaviour, 361, 149–164.
Slobin, D. (2008). Breaking the Molds: Signed language and the nature of human language. Sign Language Studies, 8(2), 114–130.
Sparaci, L. & Volterra, V. (2017). Hands shaping communication: From gestures to signs. In: M. Bertolaso & N. Di Stefano (Eds.), The Hand. Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics, vol 381, (pp. 29–54). Springer, Cham.
Stefanini, S., Bello, A., Caselli, M. C., Iverson, J. M. & Volterra, V. (2009). Co-Speech gestures in a naming task: Developmental data. Language and Cognitive Processes, 24(2), 168–189.
Tomasello, M. (2006). Why don’t apes point? In N. J. Nicholadis & S. C. Levinson (Eds.), Roots of human sociality: Culture, Cognition, and Interaction (pp. 506–524). Oxford: Berg.
(2008). The origin of human communication. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Volterra, V., Capirci, O., Caselli, M. C., Rinaldi, P., & Sparaci, L. (2017). Developmental evidence for continuity from action to gesture to sign/word. Language, Interaction, Acquisition, 8 (1), 13–41.
Zukow-Goldring, P. (2012). Assisted imitation: First steps in the seed model of language development. Language Sciences, 341, 569–582.
Cited by (20)
Cited by 20 other publications
Farkas, Chamarrita
2024. An Early Intervention in Gestural Communication in Chilean Children from Psychosocially At-Risk Backgrounds and Its Impact on Language Skills at 18 Months Old. Languages 9:4 ► pp. 146 ff. 
Wilcox, Sherman
2024. Gesture and Sign Language. In The Cambridge Handbook of Gesture Studies, ► pp. 423 ff.
Calabrò, Valeria
2023. La gestualità di segnanti e non segnanti nella narrazione orale
. In Segni, gesti e parole
Studi sulla lingua dei segni italiana e su fenomeni di contatto intermodale
,
Rinaldi, Pasquale, Patrizio Pasqualetti, Virginia Volterra & Maria Cristina Caselli
2023. Gender differences in early stages of language development. Some evidence and possible explanations. Journal of Neuroscience Research 101:5 ► pp. 643 ff.
Wille, Beatrijs, Hilde Nyffels & Olga Capirci
Capirci, Olga, Morgana Proietti & Virginia Volterra
De Marco, Doriana, Elisa De Stefani & Giovanni Vecchiato
2022. Embodying Language through Gestures: Residuals of Motor Memories Modulate Motor Cortex Excitability during Abstract Words Comprehension. Sensors 22:20 ► pp. 7734 ff.
Gallagher, Shaun, Laura Sparaci & Somogy Varga
2022. Disruptions of the Meshed Architecture in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Psychoanalytic Inquiry 42:1 ► pp. 76 ff.
Gärdenfors, Peter
2022. Teaching as evolutionary precursor to language. Frontiers in Communication 7
Khatin-Zadeh, Omid, Zahra Eskandari & Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos
2022. Gestures Enhance Executive Functions for the Understating of Mathematical Concepts. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science
Rinaldi, Pasquale, Arianna Bello, Francesca Romana Lasorsa & Maria Cristina Caselli
2022. Do Spoken Vocabulary and Gestural Production Distinguish Children with Transient Language Delay from Children Who Will Show Developmental Language Disorder? A Pilot Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19:7 ► pp. 3822 ff.
Sparaci, Laura, Domenico Formica, Francesca Romana Lasorsa, Luigi Raiano, Paola Venuti & Olga Capirci
2022. New Methods for Unraveling Imitation Accuracy Differences Between Children with Autism and Typically Developing Peers. Perceptual and Motor Skills 129:6 ► pp. 1749 ff.
Stewart, Jessica R., Ruth Crutchfield & Wan-Lin Chang
2022. Prelinguistic gesture and developmental abilities: A multi-ethnic comparative study. Infant Behavior and Development 68 ► pp. 101748 ff.
Lasorsa, Francesca Romana, Maria Cristina Caselli, Ilaria Simonelli, Silvia Stefanini, Patrizio Pasqualetti & Pasquale Rinaldi
2021. Exploring Agreement between MB-CDI Short Forms for Evaluating the Language Skills of Italian Children Aged 18–24 Months. Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica 73:6 ► pp. 552 ff.
Arbib, Michael A., Francisco Aboitiz, Judith M. Burkart, Michael C. Corballis, Gino Coudé, Erin Hecht, Katja Liebal, Masako Myowa-Yamakoshi, James Pustejovsky, Shelby S. Putt, Federico Rossano, Anne E. Russon, P. Thomas Schoenemann, Uwe Seifert, Katerina Semendeferi, Chris Sinha, Dietrich Stout, Virginia Volterra, Sławomir Wacewicz & Benjamin Wilson
2020. The comparative neuroprimatology 2018 (CNP-2018) road map for research on How the Brain Got Language. In How the Brain Got Language – Towards a New Road Map [Benjamins Current Topics, 112], ► pp. 370 ff.
Bello, Arianna, Silvia Stefanini, Pasquale Rinaldi, Daniela Onofrio & Virginia Volterra
Tomasuolo, Elena, Chiara Bonsignori, Pasquale Rinaldi & Virginia Volterra
2020. The representation of action in Italian Sign Language (LIS). Cognitive Linguistics 31:1 ► pp. 1 ff.
Humphries, Tom, Poorna Kushalnagar, Gaurav Mathur, Donna Jo Napoli, Christian Rathmann & Scott Smith
2019. Support for parents of deaf children: Common questions and informed, evidence-based answers. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology 118 ► pp. 134 ff.
Arbib, Michael A., Francisco Aboitiz, Judith M. Burkart, Michael Corballis, Gino Coudé, Erin Hecht, Katja Liebal, Masako Myowa-Yamakoshi, James Pustejovsky, Shelby Putt, Federico Rossano, Anne E. Russon, P. Thomas Schoenemann, Uwe Seifert, Katerina Semendeferi, Chris Sinha, Dietrich Stout, Virginia Volterra, Sławomir Wacewicz & Benjamin Wilson
2018. The comparative neuroprimatology 2018 (CNP-2018) road map for research on How the Brain Got Language
. Interaction Studies. Social Behaviour and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systems 19:1-2 ► pp. 370 ff.
[no author supplied]
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 18 october 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.