Early action and gesture "vocabulary" and its relation with word comprehension and production.
Data from 492 Italian infants (8-18 months) were collected with the parental questionnaire MacArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventories to describe early actions and gestures (A-G) "vocabulary" and its relation with spoken vocabulary in both comprehension and production. A-G were more strongly correlated with word comprehension than word production. A clear developmental pattern for the different types of A-G was found. These findings are similar to those of different Western languages, indicating a common biological and cultural basis. The analysis of individual A-G and their relations with early words with a related meaning showed interesting similarities between the production of A-G with and without object manipulation and the comprehension and production of corresponding words. Results indicate that the transition from A-G to spoken language is mediated by word comprehension.
Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Rome, Italy. cristina.caselli@istc.cnr.it
Maria Cristina
MC
Caselli
Pasquale
P
Rinaldi
Silvia
S
Stefanini
Virginia
V
Volterra
D000367:Age Factors; D032882:Comprehension; D005260:Female; D005868:Gestures; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D009633:Nonverbal Communication; D010988:Play and Playthings / Q000523:psychology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D014825:Vocabulary