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The role of maternal gesturing in conversations with one-year-olds*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Elizabeth Schnur  and
Marilyn Shatz
Elizabeth Schnur
Affiliation:
The University of Michigan
Marilyn Shatz
Affiliation:
The University of Michigan
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Abstract

This study explores the question of whether maternal gestures facilitate aspects of the linguistic or communicative behaviour of young children. Four children aged 1; 4 were videotaped playing with their mothers in an unconstrained free condition, and then again in an ungestured condition in which mothers were instructed not to use their hands while interacting with their children. Results from the two conditions of our study show that though children tended to produce attentive responses when they had observed a gesture, these reponses were not necessarily more appropriate to the interaction than responses not preceded by maternal gesture. We conclude that maternal gestures have more of a role in maintaining attention and the flow of interaction for young children than they do in providing specific cues to the grammar the child is acquiring.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , February 1984 , pp. 29 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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References

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