Pointing gesture in young children: Hand preference and language development

Cochet, Hélène; Vauclair, Jacques

doi:10.1075/gest.10.2-3.02coc

Article published In: Gesture and Multimodal Development
Edited by Jean-Marc Colletta and Michèle Guidetti
[Gesture 10:2/3] 2010
► pp. 129–149

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Pointing gesture in young children

Hand preference and language development

Hélène Cochet | Aix-Marseille University

Jacques Vauclair

Published online: 25 February 2011

https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.10.2-3.02coc

This paper provides an overview of recent studies that have investigated the development of pointing behaviors in infants and toddlers. First, we focus on deictic gestures and their role in language development, taking into account the different hand shapes and the different functions of pointing, and examining the cognitive abilities that may or may not be associated with the production of pointing gestures. Second, we try to demonstrate that when a distinction is made between pointing gestures and manipulative activities, the study of children’s hand preference can help to highlight the development of speech-gesture links.

Keywords: toddlers, gestural communication, handedness, pointing, speech-gesture system

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