Cover not available
Article published In:
The gesture–sign interface in language acquisition / L’interface geste–signe dans l’acquisition du langage
Edited by Aliyah Morgenstern and Michèle Guidetti
[Language, Interaction and Acquisition 8:1] 2017
► pp. 13–41

Developmental evidence for continuity from action to gesture to sign/word

| Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC), National Research Council (CNR) of Italy, Rome, Italy
| Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC), National Research Council (CNR) of Italy, Rome, Italy
| Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC), National Research Council (CNR) of Italy, Rome, Italy
| Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC), National Research Council (CNR) of Italy, Rome, Italy
| Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC), National Research Council (CNR) of Italy, Rome, Italy

What is linguistic communication and what is it not? Even if we often convey meanings through visible bodily actions, these are rarely considered part of human language. However, co-verbal gestures have compositional structure and semantic significance, while highly iconic structures are essential in sign languages. This paper offers a review of major studies conducted in our lab on the continuity from actions to gestures to words/signs in development. After a brief introduction, we show how gestures may bridge the gap between actions and words and how this interrelationship extends beyond early childhood and across cultures. We stress the role of sign language and multimodal communication in the study of language as a form of action and present recent research on motoric aspects of human communication. Studying the visible actions of speakers and signers leads to a revision of the traditional dichotomy between linguistic and enacted, and to the development of a new approach to embodied language.

Keywords: language, gesture, sign language, motor actions, children, development
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.From actions to gestures to words: evidence on how early action-gestures scaffold word acquisition in infancy
  • 3.Towards multimodality: developing a more nuanced understanding of the role of gesture production in toddlers and older children
  • 4.From actions to gestures to signs: the importance of considering sign language acquisition in understanding embodied language
  • 5.Moving ahead: general conclusion and further contributions to the current debate on embodying language
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 16 October 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lia.8.1.02vol
References
Anderson, D., & Reilly, J.
(2002) The MacArthur communicative development inventory: Normative data for American Sign Language. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 71, 83–106. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Arbib, M. A., Gasser, B., & Barrès, V.
(2014) Language is handy but is it embodied? Neuropsychologia 551, 57–75. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bates, E., Benigni, L., Bretherton, I., Camaioni, L., & Volterra, V.
(1979) The emergence of symbols: Cognition and communication in infancy. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bello, A., Caselli, M. C., Pettenati, P., & Stefanini, S.
(2010) Parole in gioco: una prova di comprensione e produzione lessicale [‘the Picture Naming Game (PiNG), a task to assess lexical comprehension and production’]. Firenze, Italy: Giunti Organizzazioni Speciali.Google Scholar
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. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Boyatzis, C. J., & Watson, M. W.
(1993) Preschool children’s symbolic representation of objects through gestures. Child Development 641, 729–735. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Boyes-Braem, P.
(1994) Acquisition of the handshape in American Sign Language: A preliminary analysis. In V. Volterra & C. J. Erting (Eds.), From gesture to language in hearing and deaf Children (2nd ed.), (pp. 107–127). Washington DC: Gallaudet University Press.Google Scholar
Brentari, D., Di Renzo, A., Keane, J., & Volterra, V.
(2015) Cognitive, cultural, and linguistic sources of a handshape distinction expressing agentivity. Topics in Cognitive Science 71, 95–123. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
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: the interdisciplinary nature of gesture [Gesture Studies 4] (pp. 189–200). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Capirci, O., Contaldo, A., Caselli, M. C., & Volterra, V.
(2005) From action to language through gesture: A longitudinal perspective. Gesture 51, 155–177. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Capirci, O., Iverson, J., Montanari, S., & Volterra, V.
(2002) Gestural, signed and spoken modalities in early language development: The role of linguistic input. Bilingualism Language and Cognition 51, 25–37. DOI logoGoogle 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., & Volterra, V.
(2008) Gesture and speech. The emergence and development of a strong and changing partnership. Gesture 81, 22–44. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Capone, N., & McGregor, K. K.
(2004) Gesture development: A review for clinical and research practices. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 471, 173–186. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Caselli, M. C.
(1994) Communicative gestures and first words. In V. Volterra & C. J. Erting (Eds.), From gesture to language in hearing and deaf children (2nd ed.) (pp. 56–67). Washington DC: Gallaudet University Press.Google Scholar
Caselli, M. C., Pasqualetti, P., & Stefanini, S.
(2007) Parole e frasi del “primo vocabolario del bambino”: Nuovi dati normativi fra 18 e 36 mesi e Forma breve del questionario [‘Words and Sentences in “The First Vocabulary of the child”: New normative data from 18 to 36 months and Short Form of the questionnaire’]. Milan, Italy, Franco Angeli.Google Scholar
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. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
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 (2nd ed.) (pp. 263–277). Washington DC: Gallaudet University Press.Google Scholar
Clark, H. H.
(2016) Depicting as a method of communication. Psychological Review 1231, 324–347. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Clark, H. H., & Gerrig, R.
(1990) Quotations as Demonstrations. Language 661, 764–805. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Colletta, J. M., Guidetti, M., Capirci, O., Cristilli, C., Demir, O. E., Kunene-Nicolas, R. N., & Levine, S.
(2015) Effects of age and language on co-speech gesture production: an investigation of French, American, and Italian children’s narratives. Journal of Child Language 421, 122–145. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Colletta, J. M., Pellenq, C., & Guidetti, M.
(2010) Age-related changes in co-speech gesture and narrative: Evidence from French children and adults. Speech Communication 521, 565–576. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Conlin, K. E., Mirus, G. R., Mauk, C., & Meier, R. P.
(2000) The acquisition of first signs: Place, handshape, and movement. In C. Chamberlain, J. P. Morford, & R. I. Mayberry (Eds.), Language acquisition by eye (pp. 51–69). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Cristilli, C., Capirci, O., & Graziano, M.
(2012) Le funzioni anaforiche della gestualità nel racconto dei bambini. In M. Pettorino, A. Giannini & F. M. Dovetto (Eds.), La Comunicazione parlata 3: Atti del terzo Congresso Internazionale del gruppo di studi sulla Comunicazione Parlata, Vol. I1 (pp. 307–339). Naples: Università degli Studi di Napoli ‘l’Orientale’.Google Scholar
Dick, A. S., Overton, W. F., & Kovacs, S. L.
(2005) The development of symbolic coordination: Representation of imagined objects, executive function, and theory of mind. Journal of Cognition and Development 61, 133–161. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Frak, V., Nazir, T., Goyette, M., Cohen, H., & Jeannerod, M.
(2010) Grip force is part of the semantic representation of manual action verbs. PLoS ONE 5(3), e9728. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Goldin-Meadow, S.
(2003) Hearing gestures: How our hands help us think. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
(2002) Constructing communication by hand. Cognitive development, 17(3), 1385-1405. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
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.Google Scholar
Goldin-Meadow, S., & Morford, M.
(1994) Gesture in early child language. In V. Volterra & C. J. Erting (Eds.), From gesture to language in hearing and deaf children (2nd ed.) (pp. 249–262). Washington DC: Gallaudet University Press.Google Scholar
Guidetti, M., Fibigerová, K., & Colletta, J. M.
(2014) Gestures and multimodal development: Some key issues for language acquisition. In M. Seyfeddinipur & M. Gullberg (Eds.), From gesture in conversation to visible action in utterance (pp. 351–370). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Gullberg, M.
(1998) Gesture as a communication strategy in second language discourse: A study of learners of French and Swedish. Lund: Lund University Press.Google Scholar
Hoiting, N.
(2006) Deaf children are verb attenders: Early sign vocabulary development in Dutch toddlers. In B. Schick, M. Marschark, & P. E. Spencer (Eds.), Advances in sign language development of deaf children (pp. 135–160). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Iverson, J. M.
(2010) Developing language in a developing body: The relationship between motor development and language development. Journal of Child Language 371, 229–261. 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
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 281, 164–181. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A.
(2004) Gesture. Visible action as utterance. Cambridge: University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2012) Language and kinesic complexity. Gesture 121, 308–326. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2014) Semiotic Diversity in utterance production and the concept of ‘language’. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 3691. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kita, S., & Wood C.
(2006) Semiotic characteristics of speech-accompanying gestures in children and adults’ narrative. Paper presented at the Current Developments in Gesture Research. Hatfield, UK, June 30th.
McNeill, D.
(1992) Hand and mind. What gestures reveal about thought. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
(2000) Language and gestures. New York: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2005) Gesture and thought. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Meteyard, L., Rodriguez Cuadrado, S., Bahrami, B., & Vigliocco, G.
(2012) Coming of age: A review of embodiment and the neuroscience of semantics. Cortex 481, 788–804. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
O’Reilly, A. W.
(1995) Using representations: Comprehension and production of action with imagined objects. Child Development 661, 999–1010. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Özçalişkan, Ş., & Goldin-Meadow, S.
(2009) When gesture-speech combinations do and do not index linguistic change. Language and Cognitive Processes 241, 190–217. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Perniss, P. M., & Vigliocco, G.
(2014) The bridge of iconicity: From a world of experience to the experience of language. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 3691. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
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. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pettenati, P., Stefanini, S., & Volterra, V.
(2010) Motoric characteristics of representational gestures produced by young children in a naming task. Journal of Child Language 371, 887–911. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pizzuto, E., Capobianco, M., & Devescovi, A.
(2005) Gestural-vocal deixis and representational skills in early language development. Interaction Studies: Social Behaviour and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systems 61, 223–252. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pulvermüller, F., Hauk, O., Nikulin, V. V., & Ilmoniemi, R. J.
(2005) Functional links between motor and language systems. European Journal of Neurosciences 211, 793–97. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ricci, L., Formica, D., Sparaci, L., Lasorsa, F., Taffoni, F., Tamilia, E., & Guglielmelli, E.
(2014) A new calibration methodology for thorax and upper limbs motion capture in children using wireless magneto-inertial sensors. Sensors 141, 1057–1072. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ricci, L., Formica, D., Tamilia, E., Taffoni, F., Sparaci, L., Capirci, O., & Guglielmelli, E.
(2013) An experimental protocol for the definition of upper limb anatomical frames on children using magneto– inertial sensors. IEEE International Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society 2013, 4903–4936.Google Scholar
Rinaldi, P., Caselli, M. C., Di Renzo, A., Gulli, T., & Volterra, V.
(2014) Sign vocabulary in deaf toddlers exposed to Sign Language since birth. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 191, 303–318. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rizzolatti, G., & Arbib, M. A.
(1998) Language within our grasp. Trends in Neuroscience 211, 188–194. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sansavini, A., Bello, A., Guarini, A., Savini, S., Stefanini, S., & Caselli, M. C.
(2010) Early development of gestures, actions, word comprehension and word production and their relationships in Italian infants: a longitudinal study, Gesture 101, 52–83. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sparaci, L., Formica, D., Lasorsa, F., Ricci, L., Venuti, P., & Capirci, O.
(2013) Primary data on using sensors to analyze motor aspects of gesture behavior in children with autistic spectrum disorders. In online abstract book for the 2013 International Meeting for Autism Research. [URL]
Stefanini, S., Bello, A., Iverson, J. M., Caselli, M. C., & Volterra, V.
(2009) Co-speech gestures in a naming task: developmental data. Language and Cognitive Processes 241, 168–189. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Volterra, V., & Iverson, J. M.
(1995) When do modality factors affect the course of language acquisition? In K. Emmorey & J. Reilly (Eds.), Language, Gesture, and Space (371–390). Hillsdale: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Volterra, V., Caselli, M. C., Capirci, O., & Pizzuto, E.
(2005) Gesture and the emergence and development of language. In M. Tomasello & D. Slobin (Eds.), Beyond nature-nurture. Essays in honor of Elizabeth Bates (pp. 3–40). Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Werner, H., & Kaplan, B.
(1963) Symbol formation. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 25 other publications

Adami, Elisabetta & Ruth Swanwick
2024. Signs of understanding and turns-as-actions: a multimodal analysis of deaf–hearing interaction. Visual Communication 23:1 ► pp. 4 ff. DOI logo
Baggio, Guido
2023. Gesture, meaning, and intentionality: from radical to pragmatist enactive theory of language. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 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
Capirci, Olga, Morgana Proietti & Virginia Volterra
2022. Searching for the roots of signs in children’s early gestures. Gesture 21:2-3 ► pp. 201 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
Cattani, Allegra, Caroline Floccia, Evan Kidd, Paola Pettenati, Daniela Onofrio & Virginia Volterra
2019. Gestures and Words in Naming: Evidence From Crosslinguistic and Crosscultural Comparison. Language Learning 69:3 ► pp. 709 ff. DOI logo
Fibigerova, Katerina, Jean-Marc Colletta & Michèle Guidetti
2018. Verbal and gestural expression of motion and spatial events. Language, Interaction and Acquisition 9:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Fibigerova, Katerina, Jean-Marc Colletta & Michèle Guidetti
2018. L’expression verbale et gestuelle du mouvement et de l’espace. Language, Interaction and Acquisition 9:1 ► pp. 11 ff. DOI logo
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. 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
Lüke, Carina, Ute Ritterfeld, Angela Grimminger, Katharina J. Rohlfing & Ulf Liszkowski
2020. Integrated Communication System: Gesture and Language Acquisition in Typically Developing Children and Children With LD and DLD. Frontiers in Psychology 11 DOI logo
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. 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
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
Salo, Virginia C., Pier F. Ferrari & Nathan A. Fox
2019. The role of the motor system in action understanding and communication: Evidence from human infants and non‐human primates. Developmental Psychobiology 61:3 ► pp. 390 ff. DOI logo
Sansavini, Alessandra, Annalisa Guarini, Mariagrazia Zuccarini, Jessica Zong Lee, Giacomo Faldella & Jana Marie Iverson
2019. Low Rates of Pointing in 18-Month-Olds at Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder and Extremely Preterm Infants: A Common Index of Language Delay?. Frontiers in Psychology 10 DOI logo
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. DOI logo
Sparaci, Laura & Virginia Volterra
2017. Hands Shaping Communication: From Gestures to Signs. In The Hand [Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics, 38], ► pp. 29 ff. DOI logo
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. DOI logo
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. 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
Wille, Beatrijs, Hilde Nyffels & Olga Capirci
2023. The road to language through gesture. Gesture DOI logo
Zuccarini, Mariagrazia, Annalisa Guarini, Jana Marie Iverson, Erika Benassi, Silvia Savini, Rosina Alessandroni, Giacomo Faldella & Alessandra Sansavini
2018. Does early object exploration support gesture and language development in extremely preterm infants and full-term infants?. Journal of Communication Disorders 76 ► pp. 91 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 3 april 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.