{"id":2235,"date":"2012-08-24T15:00:05","date_gmt":"2012-08-24T13:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elanguage.net\/blogs\/booknotices\/?p=2235"},"modified":"2012-08-22T10:55:22","modified_gmt":"2012-08-22T08:55:22","slug":"2235","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/?p=2235","title":{"rendered":"Gestures in language development"},"content":{"rendered":"
Gestures in language development<\/strong>.<\/strong> Ed. by Marianne Gullberg<\/strong> and Kees de Bot<\/strong>. (Benjamins current topics 28.) Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2010. Pp. viii, 139. ISBN 9789027222589<\/a>. $120 (Hb).<\/div>\n

Reviewed by Melanie McComsey<\/a><\/strong>, University of California, San Diego<\/em><\/p>\n

Recent methodological innovations in studying co-speech gesture\u2014afforded by advances in digital video technology\u2014have been adopted across several disciplines with promising results. This edited book aims to unite such gesture research with the study of language development and will be valuable to linguists, psychologists, and cognitive scientists.<\/p>\n

Marianne Gullberg<\/strong>, Kees de Bot<\/strong>, and Virginia Volterra<\/strong> introduce the book with their chapter \u2018Gestures and some key issues in the study of language development\u2019, outlining previous research and future directions for the study of gesture in relation to first- and second-language development. The authors take an innovative approach considering gesture in the context of ageing and language attrition, and not only language acquisition. Some of the important themes they suggest for further study include the role of gesture in input versus output, variation and individual differences in gesture, and gesture as a compensatory mode of expression.<\/p>\n

The following two chapters focus on first-language (L1) development. \u2018Before L1: A differentiated perspective on infant gestures\u2019, by Ulf Liszkowski<\/strong> presents evidence that twelve-month-old infants point referentially, with communicative intent, and with cooperative and prosocial motives. The author argues that the emergence of pointing and representational gestures is motivated by a drive for social contact. In \u2018The relationship between spontaneous gesture production and spoken lexical ability in children with Down Syndrome in a naming task\u2019, Silvia Stefanini<\/strong>, Martina Recchia<\/strong>, and Maria Cristina Caselli<\/strong> ask whether gesture is related more closely to cognitive or spoken linguistic abilities. By comparing gestures of children with Down Syndrome to those of typically developing children, the authors conclude that gesture may compensate for limited spoken abilities when non-verbal cognition is more advanced.<\/p>\n

The remaining chapters concern second-language (L2) development. In \u2018The effect of gestures on second language memorisation by young children\u2019, Marion Tellier<\/strong> investigates the respective impact of accompanying images and gestures on word memorization. She finds that memorization is improved when words are accompanied by gesture, suggesting that the combination of verbal, visual, and motor modalities enhances L2 learning. Keiko Yoshioka<\/strong>\u2019s chapter, \u2018Gesture and information structure in first and second language\u2019, discusses the role of gesture in combination with referring expressions for L1 and L2 speakers (namely, Dutch and Japanese). The author\u2019s surprising results point to the complexity of the relationship between gesture and the particular language being spoken. Finally, \u2018Gesture viewpoint in Japanese and English: Cross-linguistic interactions between two languages in one speaker\u2019, by Amanda Brown<\/strong>, presents evidence that L2 (English) proficiency, even at an intermediate level, affects gestures produced when recounting motion events in L1 (Japanese).<\/p>\n

The chapters in this book span research on first-language development and second-language development, children and adults, and speaking and cognition; but they seamlessly cohere in their theoretical approach, which represents one of the cutting-edge directions of research on language.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gestures in language development. Ed. by Marianne Gullberg and Kees de Bot. (Benjamins current topics 28.) Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2010. Pp. viii, 139. ISBN 9789027222589. $120 (Hb). Reviewed by Melanie McComsey, University of California, San Diego Recent methodological innovations in studying co-speech gesture\u2014afforded by advances in digital video technology\u2014have been adopted across several disciplines with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2235"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2235"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2240,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2235\/revisions\/2240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}