Gesture is at the cutting edge of early language development

Children who produce one word at a time often use gesture to supplement their speech, turning a single word into an utterance that conveys a sentence-like meaning ('eat'+point at cookie). Interestingly, the age at which children first produce supplementary gesture-speech combinations of this sort reliably predicts the age at which they first produce two-word utterances. Gesture thus serves as a signal that a child will soon be ready to begin producing multi-word sentences. The question is what happens next. Gesture could continue to expand a child's communicative repertoire over development, combining with words to convey increasingly complex ideas. Alternatively, after serving as an opening wedge into language, gesture could cease its role as a forerunner of linguistic change. We addressed this question in a sample of 40 typically developing children, each observed at 14, 18, and 22 months. The number of supplementary gesture-speech combinations the children produced increased significantly from 14 to 22 months. More importantly, the types of supplementary combinations the children produced changed over time and presaged changes in their speech. Children produced three distinct constructions across the two modalities several months before these same constructions appeared entirely within speech. Gesture thus continues to be at the cutting edge of early language development, providing stepping-stones to increasingly complex linguistic constructions.     

Gesture and early bilingual development

The relationship between speech and gestural proficiency was investigated longitudinally (from 2 years to 3 years 6 months, at 6-month intervals) in 5 French-English bilingual boys with varying proficiency in their 2 languages. Because of their different levels of proficiency in the 2 languages at the same age, these children's data were used to examine the relative contribution of language and cognitive development to gestural development. In terms of rate of gesture production, rate of gesture production with speech, and meaning of gesture and speech, the children used gestures much like adults from 2 years on. In contrast, the use of iconic and beat gestures showed differential development in the children's 2 languages as a function of mean length of utterance. These data suggest that the development of these kinds of gestures may be more closely linked to language development than other kinds (such as points). Reasons why this might be so are discussed.     

No frills: Simple regularities in language can go a long way in the development of word knowledge

Recent years have seen a flourishing of Natural Language Processing models that can mimic many aspects of human language fluency. These models harness a simple, decades-old idea: It is possible to learn a lot about word meanings just from exposure to language, because words similar in meaning are used in language in similar ways. The successes of these models raise the intriguing possibility that exposure to word use in language also shapes the word knowledge that children amass during development. However, this possibility is strongly challenged by the fact that models use language input and learning mechanisms that may be unavailable to children. Across three studies, we found that unrealistically complex input and learning mechanisms are unnecessary. Instead, simple regularities of word use in children's language input that they have the capacity to learn can foster knowledge about word meanings. Thus, exposure to language may play a simple but powerful role in children's growing word knowledge. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://youtu.be/dT83dmMffnM .

Research Highlights

• Natural Language Processing (NLP) models can learn that words are similar in meaning from higher-order statistical regularities of word use.
• Unlike NLP models, infants and children may primarily learn only simple co-occurrences between words.
• We show that infants' and children's language input is rich in simple co-occurrence that can support learning similarities in meaning between words.
• We find that simple co-occurrences can explain infants' and children's knowledge that words are similar in meaning.

     

Spelling development in the Spanish language

This study focused on spelling development in Spanish children from elementary grades. A sample of 1045 was selected from 2nd to 6th grade belonging to four schools in Tenerife Island with an age range between 7 and 12 years old (M = 113.8, SD = 17.6). We administered a standardized writing test that includes diverse subtests to assess spelling, ruled and not ruled, and various written composition tasks (i.e., writing a story based on vignettes, describing a character and writing a story). We calculated the average of correct spellings in each variable and school level, and we also analyzed the type of misspellings that children made across different writing tasks. We found that spelling is acquired by 4th-grade children when it is not ruled, whereas the spelling of ruled words is acquired by 5th-grade children. When we analyzed the misspellings in a dictation task, we found that the children confused spelling of the graphemes c/s/z/x. Across different writing tasks, we found that students committed more misspellings with the graphemes b/v, h y c/s/z/x before they finished the 4th elementary grade.     

Genes, language development, and language disorders

Genetic factors are important contributors to language and learning disorders, and discovery of the underlying genes can help delineate the basic neurological pathways that are involved. This information, in turn, can help define disorders and their perceptual and processing deficits. Initial molecular genetic studies of dyslexia, for example, appear to converge on defects in neuronal and axonal migration. Further study of individuals with abnormalities of these genes may lead to the recognition of characteristic cognitive deficits attributable to the neurological dysfunction. Such abnormalities may affect other disorders as well, and studies of co-morbidity of dyslexia with attention deficit disorder and speech sound disorder are helping to define the scope of these genes and show the etiological and cognitive commonalities between these conditions. The genetic contributions to specific language impairment (SLI) are not as well defined at this time, but similar molecular approaches are being applied to identify genes that influence SLI and comorbid disorders. While there is co-morbidity of SLI with dyslexia, it appears that most of the common genetic effects may be with the language characteristics of autism spectrum disorders rather than with dyslexia and related disorders. Identification of these genes and their neurological and cognitive effects should lay out a functional network of interacting genes and pathways that subserve language development. Understanding these processes can form the basis for refined procedures for diagnosis and treatment.     

Evidence for a reciprocal model of language development

A reciprocal model of language development is proposed analogous to Bowlby's model for the development of attachment, a control system model. The hypothesis for the research reported is that a reciprocal behavioral system operates between the language-developing infant-child and the competent language user in a socializing-teaching-nurturing role vis-à-vis the language-developing child. Findings are from a longitudinal study of four infant-mother dyads, videotaped in the home from the time the infants were 3 months until they were 2 years old. The mother's linguistic behavior following vocalizing and verbalizing by her infant is analyzed for evidence that it is language-teaching behavior appropriate to the infant's level of linguistic development and, in the terms of the control system model, elicited by the infant's linguistic behavior.Research for this article has been supported by Tufts University Faculty Research Grants. Walt Wolfram and Donna Christian gave me interesting ideas concerning the topic of this article.     

Specificity in the development of language structure

The nature of children's productive structures can be investigated via two types of structural error which are manifest in their surface data: the overextension of a very general adult rule to a context from which it is excluded, and the introduction of a novel rule in a specific context. Examples of these two types of errors are shown, on the one hand, to undermine theories which treat language development largely as a process of projecting and testing innately specified hypotheses; on the other hand, they provide support for more recent theories which conceive of abstract linguistic structure as the outcome of a process relating specifically acquired items and combinations of items. The implications of this conception for the goals and tasks of developmental psycholinguistics are explored.This paper is based on research undertaken for the Ph.D degree under the supervision of Dr. N. V. Smith, University College, London, and with the financial support of the Social Science Research Council of Great Britain.     

Metalinguistic awareness and language development

Thirty-six 3- and 4-year-old children were given a battery of six metalinguistic tasks and two measures of language development: the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and a sentence comprehension test. The results clearly showed that the majority of preschoolers were able to make at least some metalinguistic judgments, and that metalinguistic performance improved with age. Furthermore, overall performance on the metalinguistic tasks was significantly correlated with each language measure when the effects of age were partialed out. In contrast, the correlation between age and metalinguistic performance was not significant once the effects of both language measures were partialed out. These data demonstrate that preschoolers' metalinguistic abilities are more extensive than has been previously acknowledged, and that they are closely tied to other aspects of language development at this time.     

Symbolic play and language development

Symbolic play and language are known to be highly interrelated, but the developmental process involved in this relationship is not clear. Three hypothetical paths were postulated to explore how play and language drive each other: (1) direct paths, whereby initiation of basic forms in symbolic action or babbling, will be directly related to all later emerging language and motor outputs; (2) an indirect interactive path, whereby basic forms in symbolic action will be associated with more complex forms in symbolic play, as well as with babbling, and babbling mediates the relationship between symbolic play and speech; and (3) a dual path, whereby basic forms in symbolic play will be associated with basic forms of language, and complex forms of symbolic play will be associated with complex forms of language. We micro-coded 288 symbolic vignettes gathered during a yearlong prospective bi-weekly examination (N = 14; from 6 to 18 months of age). Results showed that the age of initiation of single-object symbolic play correlates strongly with the age of initiation of later-emerging symbolic and vocal outputs; its frequency at initiation is correlated with frequency at initiation of babbling, later-emerging speech, and multi-object play in initiation. Results support the notion that a single-object play relates to the development of other symbolic forms via a direct relationship and an indirect relationship, rather than a dual-path hypothesis.     

Relational language and the development of relational mapping

We test the claim that learning and using language for spatial relations can influence spatial representation and reasoning. Preschool children were given a mapping task in which they were asked to find a "winner" placed in a three-tiered box after seeing one placed in a virtually identical box. The correct choice was determined by finding the corresponding relative location in the test box, making it a difficult task for preschool children. We found that hearing language for spatial relations facilitated children's mapping performance. We found effects at younger ages on easier tasks (Experiments 1 and 2) and at older ages on harder tasks (Experiment 3). The effects of spatial relational language differed predictably according to the semantics of the terms children heard (Experiment 4). Finally, the effects of spatial language were maintained over time (Experiment 5): children given one initial exposure to the spatial terms maintained their advantage over baseline children when they again carried out the mapping task 2 days later, with no further exposure to the spatial terms. The evidence is consistent with the explanation that language bolsters children's spatial encodings, which in turn supports their mapping performance.     

Effects of receptive language training on receptive and expressive language development

The effects of a six-month training program in receptive language on receptive and expressive language development were investigated. Developmentally retarded preschoolers were pretested and posttested on one standardized test of receptive language and two tests of expressive language. Both the training and control groups participated in a preschool program. In addition, the training group received a two-sequence training program: (1) reinforcement for matching responses to modeling cues and accompanying verbal requests, and (2) reinforcement for appropriate responses to verbal requests alone. The training group demonstrated a significant increase in appropriate responses to verbal request over base-rate performance after the training and also demonstrated a significantly improved posttest performance on one test of expressive language as compared to the control group.The authors wish to thank Mrs. Helen Huggins and the staff of the Aid to Retarded Children's Preschool Training Center, San Francisco, California, for their assistance in this study. A modified version of this paper was presented at the Gatlinburg Conference on Mental Retardation, March, 1974, Gatlinburg, Tennessee.     

Gesture in the developing brain

Speakers convey meaning not only through words, but also through gestures. Although children are exposed to co-speech gestures from birth, we do not know how the developing brain comes to connect meaning conveyed in gesture with speech. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to address this question and scanned 8- to 11-year-old children and adults listening to stories accompanied by hand movements, either meaningful co-speech gestures or meaningless self-adaptors. When listening to stories accompanied by both types of hand movement, both children and adults recruited inferior frontal, inferior parietal, and posterior temporal brain regions known to be involved in processing language not accompanied by hand movements. There were, however, age-related differences in activity in posterior superior temporal sulcus (STSp), inferior frontal gyrus, pars triangularis (IFGTr), and posterior middle temporal gyrus (MTGp) regions previously implicated in processing gesture. Both children and adults showed sensitivity to the meaning of hand movements in IFGTr and MTGp, but in different ways. Finally, we found that hand movement meaning modulates interactions between STSp and other posterior temporal and inferior parietal regions for adults, but not for children. These results shed light on the developing neural substrate for understanding meaning contributed by co-speech gesture.     

The implications of childhood bacterial meningitis for language development.

Bacterial meningitis is a life threatening infection of the central nervous system. This illness is most prevalent early in life when the healthy child is rapidly acquiring language. This study investigated whether children with a history of bacterial meningitis were at risk for language difficulties post illness. Thirty post-meningitic children, aged between 9 years 0 months and 11 years 0 months, participated in this study. Each subject was administered a measure of non-verbal cognitive ability and a range of language tasks. These children performed poorly on applied language tasks, which tap skills used in effective discourse. These deficits occurred despite age appropriate performances on measures of linguistic/grammatical knowledge. These findings clearly illustrate that bacterial meningitis has implications for ongoing language development, which emphasises the importance of long term follow up. In developmental terms, this discrepancy between verbal knowledge and problem solving represents a dissociation between language skills which develop early in life and those which emerge later. This pattern of results suggests that bacterial meningitis may result in a delay in language development. A young age at illness was identified as an additional risk factor for adverse outcome. This study highlights the need to inform parents/guardians that post-meningitic children are at risk for experiencing language difficulties throughout childhood.     

Early language development after peri-natal stroke

Early unilateral brain damage has different implications for language development than does similar damage in adults, given the plasticity of the developing brain. The goal of this study was to examine early markers of language and gesture at 12 and 24 months in children who had peri-natal right hemisphere (RH) or left hemisphere (LH) stroke (n = 71), compared with typically developing controls (n = 126). Parents completed the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI): Words & Gestures (12 month data point), or the CDI: Words & Sentences (24 month data point). Statistical analyses were performed on percentile scores using analysis of variance techniques. At 12 months, there were no differences among groups for Words Understood, Phrases Understood or Words Produced. At 24 months, both lesion groups scored significantly lower than controls on Word Production, Irregular Words, and Mean Length of Sentences, but lesion groups did not differ from each other. In a longitudinal subset of participants, expressive vocabulary failed to progress as expected from 12 to 24 months in the stroke group, with no differences based on lesion side. Gesture and word production were dissociated in the left hemisphere subjects. Findings suggest that early language development after peri-natal stroke takes a different course from that of typical language development, perhaps reflecting brain reorganization secondary to plasticity in the developing brain.     

The language environment of the young infant: implications for early perceptual development

The purpose of this article is to review recent research on the young infant's use of voice-specific as well as voice-nonspecific auditory information during early language processing, to suggest a possible mechanism that biases the young infant towards this information, and to discuss potential implications of the early saliency of this information for later language development. Auditory preferences expressed by young infants are of interest because they demonstrate which properties of complex auditory events are effective in capturing the infant's attention. Moreover, the presence of such auditory preferences has led to speculations about their possible origins in both pre- and postnatal auditory experience. Research examining the role of early auditory experience in the formation of preferences is presented, along with a discussion of how the constrained nature of early auditory experience (particularly prenatal) may bias the young infant towards specific features of maternal as well as nonmaternal speech.     

Early language and the development of children's reading skills

There is considerable agreement that vocabulary plays a central role in reading acquisition, but there is less agreement about whether this association is direct or indirect through phonological and print-related knowledge. Longitudinal data from 77 African-American children were analyzed to examine the relationship between language skills, phonological knowledge and print processing skills at pre-kindergarten and kindergarten with reading at pre-kindergarten through second grade. Analyses indicated that home and child care experiences were related to reading indirectly through language and that language and phonological knowledge were both directly related to acquisition of reading skill. This study of African-American children and previous studies of lower- and middle-income children indicate both language and phonological skills play an important role in children becoming successful readers, and that experiences at home and in child care during in early childhood play a role in the acquisition of reading through their enhancement of early language and phonological skills.