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Using Eye Movements Recorded in the Visual World Paradigm to Explore the Online Processing of Spoken Language
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Gesture-speech combinations as a transition to multiword utterances.

Diane McEachern1, William O Haynes

  • 1Alvin Buckwold Child Development Program, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. d.mceachern@sasktel.net

American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology
|September 2, 2004
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Summary

Gesture-speech combinations with two semantic elements significantly increased in toddlers approaching two-word speech. These combinations appear to be a crucial transitional phase in early language development.

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Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Linguistics
  • Child Language Acquisition

Background:

  • Early communication development involves gestures and speech.
  • Understanding the transition to multi-word utterances is key in child language acquisition.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if specific gesture-speech combinations precede the emergence of two-word utterances.
  • To analyze the semantic content of synchronized gestures and speech in infants.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study of 10 typically developing children (mean age 15 months).
  • Analysis of temporally synchronized gesture-speech combinations over six months.
  • Categorization of combinations based on one or two semantic elements.

Main Results:

  • A significant increase in two-semantic-element gesture-speech combinations was observed.
  • The onset of these complex combinations coincided with or preceded the first multi-word utterances.
  • Gesture-speech combinations encoding two elements appear to be a precursor to multi-word speech.

Conclusions:

  • Gesture-speech combinations with two semantic elements serve as a transitional phenomenon in language development.
  • This finding supports the role of multimodal communication in the emergence of syntax.
  • Further research can explore the predictive power of these transitional combinations for later language milestones.