The Role of Gesture in Communication Development

• Main Author: Romski, Mary Ann
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Kansas, Department of Linguistics 1980-01-01
• Series: Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics
• Subjects: Speech and gesture; Language acquisition
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1808/547

This study investigated the role of gesture in communication development. Gestural categories, based on communicative function, were identified from longitudinal videotapes of one mother-child pair. The results of the study indicated that gestures can be reliably delineated. In addition, they served a number of communicative functions: 1) attention directing; 2) referent specifying; 3) requesting information or action; 4) supporting the verbal message and 5) answering yes/no questions. Although the pair's activity influenced the gestural category utilized, a developmental pattern emerged. As the child's linguistic sophistication increased, the mother's use of gestures decreased and the child's increased. The results are discussed with respect to the available literature.