Cover not available
Article published In:
Interaction Studies
Vol. 18:1 (2017) ► pp.55–76

Gesture–speech combinations and early verbal abilities

New longitudinal data during the second year of age

| | University of Rome “La Sapienza” |
| | Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies
| |
This study provides new longitudinal evidence on two major types of gesture–speech combination that play different roles in children’s early language. We analysed the spontaneous production of 10 Italian children observed monthly from 10–12 to 23–25 months of age. We evaluated the extent to which the developmental trends observed in children’s early gesture–word and word–word productions can predict subsequent verbal abilities. The results indicate that “complementary” and “supplementary” gesture–speech combinations predict subsequent language development in a different manner: While the onset of “supplementary” combinations predicts the onset of two-word combinations, the use of “complementary” combinations at 12 and 18 months predicts the vocabulary and the ability to produce more words utterances at 2 years of age. Moreover, the results suggest that both “complementary” and “supplementary” crossmodal combinations are good predictive indexes of early verbal skills during the second year of age.
Keywords: pointing, deictic gestures, supplementary and complementary combinations, early verbal skills, prevention
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Data collection procedures
    • 2.3Coding and language assessment
    • 2.4Coding of specific gestures and word types
    • 2.5The information relationship in crossmodal and two-words utterances
    • 2.6Data analysis
  • 3.Results and discussion
    • 3.1Complementary and supplementary crossmodal and two-word utterances: Individual profiles and estimated development across children
    • 3.2The predictive value of crossmodal (complementary and supplementary) combinations taken and observed in development
    • 3.3Predictive value of the onset of crossmodal (complementary and supplementary) combinations
  • 4.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • References


This article is currently available as a sample article.

Published online: 10 August 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/is.18.1.03cap
References (40)
References
Bonifacio, S., & Stefani, L. (2011). L'intervento precoce nel ritardo di linguaggio. L'intervento precoce nel ritardo del linguaggio. Il modello INTERCT per il bambino parlatore tardivo. Milano: Franco Angeli.Google Scholar
Butcher, C., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2000). Gesture and the transition from one- to two-word speech: when hand and mouth come together. In D. McNeill (Ed.), Language and gesture (pp. 235–257). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Camaioni, L., Aureli, T., Bellagamba, F., & Presaghi, F. (2004). Traiettorie evolutive nella transizione alla combinazione simbolica. Giornale Italiano di Psicologia, 31(2), 307–334.Google Scholar
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. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Capirci, O., Caselli, M. C., Iverson, J. M., Pizzuto, E., & Volterra, V. (2002). Gesture and the nature of language in infancy: The role of gesture as transitional device en route to two word speech. In D. Armstrong, M. Karchmer, & J. Van Cleeve (Eds.), Essays in honor of William C. Stokoe. The study of sign languages: (pp. 213–246).Google Scholar
Capirci, O., Contaldo, A., & Volterra, V. (2003). Il legame gesto-parola nelle prime fasi di sviluppo linguistico: una prospettiva longitudinale. Poster presented at the XVII National Congress AIP, Developmental Psychology section , Bari, Italy, September 22–24, 2003.
Capirci, O., Contaldo, A., Caselli M. C., & Volterra, V. (2005). From action language through gesture. A longitudinal perspective. Gestures, 5(1).Google Scholar
Capobianco, M. (2015). Il linguaggio nei primi tre anni di vita. Metodi e tecniche per la valutazione, la prevenzione e l'intervento. Milano: Franco Angeli.Google Scholar
. (2006). Gesti, parole e prime combinazioni nello sviluppo tipico e primo confronto con bambini nati pretermine. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Rome 1 “La Sapienza”.
Capobianco, M., Pizzuto, E., & Devescovi, A. (2007) The role of gesture-speech cross-modal combinations in early language development: New longitudinal evidence. Dissertation presented at the Third Conference of the Internazional Gesture Society, Integrating Gestures , Chicago, ILL, Northwestern University in Evanston (abstract in International Society for Gesture Studies “Integrating Gestures” Conference Program, pp. 52–53).
Coletta, J., & Guidetti, M.. (Eds.). (2012). Gesture and multimodal development. Amsterdam: John Benjamin. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fasolo, M., & D'Odorico, L. (2012). Gesture-plus-word combinations, transitional forms, and language development. Gesture, 12 (1), 1–15. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Franco, F., Perucchini, P., & March, B. (2009). Is infant initiation of joint attention by pointing affeccted by type of interaction? Social Development, 55–76.Google Scholar
Goldin-Meadow, S., & Morford, M. (1990). Gesture in early child language. In V. Volterra & C. J. Erting (Eds.), From gesture to language in hearing and deaf children. New York: Springer-Verlag, pp. 249–262 (199–2nd Edition Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet University Press). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goldin-Meadow, S., & Butcher, C. (2003). Pointing toward two-word speech. In S. Kita (Eds.) Pointing: where language, culture and cognition meet (pp. 85–107). Mahwak, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Goldin-Meadow, S., Brentari, D., Coppola, M., Horton, L., & Sengales, A. (2015). Watching language grow in the manual modality: nominals, predicates, and handschapes. Cognition, 1361, 381–395. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goldin-Meadow, S. (2014). How gesture works to change our minds. Trends in Neuroscience and Education, Vol. 3(1), 4–6. Elsevier. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Guidetti, M. (2002). The emergence of pragmatics: forms and functions of conventional gestures in young French children. First Language, 221, 265–285. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hollinghsead, A. B. (1975). Four Factor Index of Social Status. Yale University, Department of Sociology, New Haven.Google Scholar
Kendon, A. (2016). Reflections on the “Gesture First” Hypothesis of Language Origins. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Iverson, J. M., Capirci, O., Volterra, V., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2008). Learning to talk in a gesture-rich world: Early communication in Italian vs. American children. First Language, 8(2), 164–181. Special Issue: Gestures and communicative development. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Iverson, J. M., Capirci, O., & Caselli, M. C. (1994). From communication to language in two modalities. Cognitive Development, 91, 23–43. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Levickis, P., Reilly, S., Girolametto, L., Ukoumunne, O. C., & Wake, M. (2014). Maternal behaviors promoting language acquisition in slow-to-talk toddlers: prospective community-based Study. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 35(4), 274–281. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mayberry, R. I., & Nicoladis, E. (2000). Gesture reflects language development: evidence from bilingual children. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9(6), 192–196. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McEachern, D., & Haynes, W. O. (2004). Gesture-speech combinations as a transition to multiword Utterances, American Journal of Speech-language Pathology, 131, 227–235. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McNeill, D. (Eds.) (2000). Language and gesture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mac Whinney B. J. (1997). Il progetto CHILDES. Strumenti per l’analisi del linguaggio parlato. Edizioni del Cerro.Google Scholar
Murillo, E., & Mercedes, B. (2012) Changes and predicitive vakue on early lexical development. Gesture, 12(1), 16–39. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Novack, M., Wakefield, E., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2016). What makes a movement a gesture? Cognition, 1461, 339–348. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pizzuto, E. (2002). Communicative gestures and linguistic signs in the first two years of life. Paper presented at the EURESCO Conferences, Brain Development and Cognition in Human Infants , Maratea, Italy.
. (2009). L’indicare e la costruzione del discorso nell’acquisizione delle lingue vocali e della lingua dei segni. Età evolutiva, 111, 79–87.Google Scholar
. (2005). The link and differences between deixis and symbols in children’s early gestural-vocal system. Gesture, 5(1/2), 179–199. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pizzuto, E., Capobianco, M., & Devescovi, A. (2009). Gestural-vocal deixis and representazional skills in early language development. In C. Abry, A. Vilain, & J. Schwartz (Eds.), Vocalize to localize (pp. 179–206), Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. (2005). Gestural-vocal deixis and representational skills in early language development. Interaction Studies, 6(2), 223–252. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. (2003). Gestural-vocaldeixis and representational skills in early language development. Paper presented at International Congress on "Vocalize to localize: A missing piece in the puzzling route towards language?" CNRS-Institut de la Communication Parlée et Université Stendhal , Grenoble.
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, 241, 168–189. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tambelli, R., Cimino, S., Cerniglia, L., & Ballarotto, G. (2015). Early maternal relational traumatic experiences and psychopathological symptoms: a longitudinal study on mother-infant and father-infant. Scientific Report, 51, 13984. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thal, D., & Tobias, S. (1992). Comunicative gestures in children with delayed onset of oral espressive vocabulary. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 411, 374–384.Google Scholar
Volterra, V., Caselli, M. C., Capirci, O., & Pizzuto, E. (2005). Gesture and the emergence and development of language. In M. Tomasello, & D. I. Slobin (Eds.), Beyond nature-nurture - Essays in honour of Elizabeth Bates (pp. 3–40). Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Cited by (28)

Cited by 28 other publications

Guevara, Irene & Cintia Rodríguez
2023. Developing communication through objects: Ostensive gestures as the first gestures in children's development. Developmental Review 68 ► pp. 101076 ff. DOI logo
Knaus, Tracey A., Claire O. Burns, Jodi Kamps & Anne L. Foundas
2023. Action viewing and language in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Experimental Brain Research 241:2 ► pp. 559 ff. DOI logo
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. DOI logo
Rochanavibhata, Sirada, Jessica Yung-Chieh Chuang & Viorica Marian
2023. Bilingual mothers and children gesture differently across native and second languages. Journal of Monolingual and Bilingual Speech 5:2 ► pp. 201 ff. DOI logo
Soler, Marta Casla, Eva Murillo, Silvia Nieva, Jessica Rodríguez, Celia Mendez-Cabezas & Irene Rujas
2023. Verbal and More: Multimodality in Adults’ and Toddlers’ Spontaneous Repetitions. Language Learning and Development 19:1 ► pp. 16 ff. DOI logo
Nieto, Carmen & Ruth Campos
2022. Early motor copying behaviours: analysis of their functions and relationship with language. Early Child Development and Care 192:14 ► pp. 2326 ff. DOI logo
Rodríguez, Fernando G. & Silvia Español
2022. The Transition from Early Bimodal Gesture-Word Combinations to Grammatical Speech. In Moving and Interacting in Infancy and Early Childhood, ► pp. 207 ff. DOI logo
Suttora, Chiara, Annalisa Guarini, Mariagrazia Zuccarini, Arianna Aceti, Luigi Corvaglia & Alessandra Sansavini
2022. Integrating Gestures and Words to Communicate in Full-Term and Low-Risk Preterm Late Talkers. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19:7 ► pp. 3918 ff. DOI logo
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. DOI logo
Murillo, Eva & Marta Casla
2021. Multimodal representational gestures in the transition to multi‐word productions. Infancy 26:1 ► pp. 104 ff. DOI logo
Murillo, Eva, Ignacio Montero & Marta Casla
2021. On the Multimodal Path to Language: The Relationship Between Rhythmic Movements and Deictic Gestures at the End of the First Year. Frontiers in Psychology 12 DOI logo
Bello, Arianna, Silvia Stefanini, Pasquale Rinaldi, Daniela Onofrio & Virginia Volterra
2020. Gestural symbolic strategies in children with Down syndrome. Gesture 19:2-3 ► pp. 299 ff. DOI logo
DE PABLO, Irati, Eva MURILLO & Asier ROMERO
2020. The effect of infant-directed speech on early multimodal communicative production in Spanish and Basque. Journal of Child Language 47:2 ► pp. 457 ff. DOI logo
Cerniglia, Luca, Letizia Bartolomeo, Micaela Capobianco, Sara Lucia M. Lo Russo, Fabiana Festucci, Renata Tambelli, Walter Adriani & Silvia Cimino
2019. Intersections and Divergences Between Empathizing and Mentalizing: Development, Recent Advancements by Neuroimaging and the Future of Animal Modeling. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 13 DOI logo
Pizzuto, Gabriella & Angelo Cangelosi
2019. 2019 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN), ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Pizzuto, Gabriella, Timothy M. Hospedales, Olga Capirci & Angelo Cangelosi
2019. 2019 Joint IEEE 9th International Conference on Development and Learning and Epigenetic Robotics (ICDL-EpiRob), ► pp. 284 ff. DOI logo
Bartolomeo, Letizia, Luca Cerniglia & Micaela Capobianco
2018. Empatia e Teoria della Mente: una review narrativa su differenze e convergenze concettuali alla luce delle recenti scoperte neurobiologiche. RICERCHE DI PSICOLOGIA :1 ► pp. 19 ff. DOI logo
Cimino, Silvia, Alessandra Simonelli, Micol Parolin, Giulia Ballarotto, Paola Carbone & Luca Cerniglia
2018. A Theoretical and Empirical Linkage between Road Accidents and Binge Eating Behaviors in Adolescence. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 15:2 ► pp. 355 ff. DOI logo
Ge, Sheng, Hui Liu, Pan Lin, Junfeng Gao, Chaoyong Xiao & Zonghong Li
2018. Neural Basis of Action Observation and Understanding From First- and Third-Person Perspectives: An fMRI Study. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 12 DOI logo
Laghi, Fiorenzo, Antonia Lonigro, Susanna Pallini & Roberto Baiocco
2018. Peer Buddies in the Classroom: The Effects on Spontaneous Conversations in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Child & Youth Care Forum 47:4 ► pp. 517 ff. DOI logo
Murillo, Eva, Carlota Ortega, Alicia Otones, Irene Rujas & Marta Casla
2018. Changes in the Synchrony of Multimodal Communication in Early Language Development. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 61:9 ► pp. 2235 ff. DOI logo
Volterra, Virginia, Olga Capirci, Pasquale Rinaldi & Laura Sparaci
2018. From action to spoken and signed language through gesture. Interaction Studies. Social Behaviour and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systems 19:1-2 ► pp. 216 ff. DOI logo
Volterra, Virginia, Olga Capirci, Pasquale Rinaldi & Laura Sparaci
2020. From action to spoken and signed language through gesture. In How the Brain Got Language – Towards a New Road Map [Benjamins Current Topics, 112], ► pp. 216 ff. DOI logo
Capobianco, Micaela & Luca Cerniglia
2017. Early language development in preterm children without neurological damage: a longitudinal study. F1000Research 6 ► pp. 2169 ff. DOI logo
Capobianco, Micaela & Luca Cerniglia
2018. Case Report: Evaluation strategies and cognitive intervention: the case of a monovular twin child affected by selective mutism. F1000Research 7 ► pp. 221 ff. DOI logo
Capobianco, Micaela & Luca Cerniglia
2018. Communicative, cognitive and emotional issues in selective mutism. Interaction Studies. Social Behaviour and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systems 19:3 ► pp. 445 ff. DOI logo
Capobianco, Micaela & Luca Cerniglia
2020. Coarticolazione temporale nelle combinazioni di gesti e parole: dati longitudinali in bambini nati a termine e pretermine nei primi due anni di età. RICERCHE DI PSICOLOGIA :2 ► pp. 547 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2022. Italian Sign Language from a Cognitive and Socio-semiotic Perspective [Gesture Studies, 9], DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 july 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.