Prelinguistic gesture use in mother-infant and mother-infant-sibling interactions

Abstract

I tested the hypothesis that, in infant-mother-sibling interactions, infants with older siblings aged 11 to 24 months produce deictic gestures when they are proximal to, or engaging in joint attention with, their mothers more frequently than same-aged infants without siblings. Fifteen infant-mother dyads and 10 infant-mother-sibling triads were individually observed for 15 minutes in a playroom full of toys. Infants involved in infant-mother-sibling interactions produced more deictic gestures when they were proximal to their mothers than infants in infant-mother interactions. Further, infants involved in infant-mother-sibling interactions accompanied their gestures with vocalizations at a higher rate than infants in infant-mother interactions. This result suggests that infants with older siblings monitor their mothers more carefully in interactions in which their sibling is also present, and that they produce deictic gestures in order to effectively elicit joint action with their mothers.

Other children’s words in the linguistic environment of infants and young children from distinct social groups in Argentina (Las palabras de otros niños en el entorno lingüístico de bebés y niños pequeños de distintos grupos sociales de Argentina)

“…En esta misma línea otros trabajos compararon las interacciones diádicas entre la madre y el niño con interacciones triádicas entre la madre, el niño y un hermano y encontraron que cada contexto de interacción puede impactar de forma distinta en el desarrollo lingüístico de los niños pequeños (Kishimoto, 2017;Malmeer & Assadi, 2013). Por ejemplo, Benigno et al (2007) encontraron que en los contextos triádicos niños de 20 meses buscaban ellos mismos generar los episodios de atención conjunta con sus madres, probablemente porque debían compartir la atención materna con su hermano.…”

“…Other research along the same lines compared the dyadic interactions between mother and child with triadic interactions between mother, young child and sibling, and found that each context can have a different impact on the linguistic development of young children (Kishimoto, 2017; Malmeer & Assadi, 2013). For example, Benigno et al (2007) found that in triadic contexts 20-month-olds themselves actively sought joint attention with their mothers, most likely due to having to share maternal attention with their sibling.…”

Early gesture use predicts children’s language development in South Korea: New evidence supporting the cross‐cultural importance of pointing

“…1.2 | Gesture use and language development outside the Western context Although research on caregivers and children's use of gesture has been done mostly with families from Western countries, there is an emerging line of international and cross-cultural research observing early gesture use in different cultural settings (e.g., Callaghan et al, 2011;Cameron-Faulkner et al, 2021;Goldin-Meadow & Saltzman, 2000;Haviland, 1998;Kishimoto, 2017;Kita, 2009;Kwon et al, 2018). Such studies have started to provide evidence of both similarities and variations across different cultural contexts.…”

“…Despite growing efforts to examine parents’ and children’s use of gesture in different cultural contexts (e.g., Kishimoto, 2017; Liszkowski et al., 2012; Salomo & Liszkowski, 2013), most of what we know about this mode of communication is still largely based on a small subset of the population of Western countries. Such an approach limits our understanding of the role that culture plays in children’s early experiences and development (Henrich et al., 2010; LeVine, 2004; Schieffelin & Ochs, 1986).…”

“…Our second goal is to expand our knowledge about variations in early learning experiences within the Asian context. While there has been research focusing on variations in children’s early language and socialization experiences in Asia, most of the studies focus on families in China or Japan (e.g., Kishimoto, 2017; Salomo & Liszkowski, 2013; Wei et al., 2020), limiting our understanding of the similarities and varieties in gesture use by Asian families. By focusing on the understudied context of South Korea, we aim to expand our knowledge on child development in Asia.…”