Getting away from the point: the emergence of ostensive gestures and their functions

Within developmental psychology, pointing gestures have received a great deal of attention, while ostensive gestures have been overlooked in terms of their emergence and intentionality. In a longitudinal and micro-genetic study with six children at 9, 11, and 13 months of age, we codified gesture production of children within second-by-second data frames. We identified 480 instances of gestures and categorised whether they were of ostensive, ostensive-indexical, or indexical nature. We specified the communicative function of each gesture by analysing the object involved and their circumstances of production. Data analysis include frequencies, binomial tests, proportion comparisons, and repeated measures ANOVA. We identified a phatic function in other-directed gestures, as well as exploratory and private functions in self-directed gestures. This has important implications for child development since ostensive gestures are easier to produce and to understand than pointing. The consideration of objects would be essential for defining the communicative function of gestures.