Mats Andrén
List of John Benjamins publications in which Mats Andrén is involved.
2018 Children’s use of gesture and action with static and dynamic verbs Verbal and gestural expression of motion and spatial events / L’expression verbale et gestuelle du mouvement et de l’espace: New evidence from different age groups and linguistic environments / nouveaux arguments en provenance de différents groupes d’âge et de différents environnements linguistiques, Fibigerová, Kateřina, Jean-Marc Colletta and Michèle Guidetti (eds.), pp. 22–39 | Article
The present study investigates the use of gestures by 18-, 24- and 30-month-old Swedish children, as well as their practical actions in coordination with verbs. Previous research on connections between children’s verbs and gestures has mainly focused only on iconic gestures and action verbs. We… read more
2014 On the lower limit of gesture From Gesture in Conversation to Visible Action as Utterance: Essays in honor of Adam Kendon, Seyfeddinipur, Mandana and Marianne Gullberg (eds.), pp. 153–174 | Article
Where, if, and how, should researchers draw the limit between gesture proper and semiotically less complex forms of bodily conduct that do not quite qualify as gesture? This is the question of a lower limit of gesture (Andrén 2010). In accordance with a comparative semiotic approach (Kendon 2008),… read more
2014 Multimodal constructions in children: Is the headshake part of language? Gesture 14:2, pp. 141–170 | Article
Swedish children’s use of the headshake from 18 to 30 months shows a developmental progression from rote-learned and formulaic coordination with speech to increasingly more flexible and productive coordination with speech. To deal with these observations, I make use of the concept of multimodal… read more
2011 Chapter 11. The organization of children’s pointing stroke endpoints Integrating Gestures: The interdisciplinary nature of gesture, Stam, Gale and Mika Ishino (eds.), pp. 153–162 | Chapter
The timing of index finger pointing gestures of three Swedish children (recorded longitudinally between 18 and 28 months) was analyzed. 63% of the pointing strokes ended in direct association with the child’s own spoken utterance. This is in line with standard descriptions of gesture timing.… read more



