A Comparative Study on Representational Gestures in Italian and Japanese Children

This study compares words and gestures produced in a controlled experimental setting by children raised in different linguistic/cultural environments to examine the robustness of gesture use at an early stage of lexical development. Twenty-two Italian and twenty-two Japanese toddlers (age range 25–3...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of nonverbal behavior Vol. 36; no. 2; pp. 149 - 164
Main Authors Pettenati, Paola, Sekine, Kazuki, Congestrì, Elena, Volterra, Virginia
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Boston Springer US 01.06.2012
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Age
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Children
Comparative studies
Developmental stages
Language
Minority & ethnic groups
Nonverbal communication
Original Paper
Personality and Social Psychology
Preschool children
Psychology
Social Sciences
Sociology
Cross-cultural/linguistic comparison
Toddlers
Gestures
Picture naming
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Summary:This study compares words and gestures produced in a controlled experimental setting by children raised in different linguistic/cultural environments to examine the robustness of gesture use at an early stage of lexical development. Twenty-two Italian and twenty-two Japanese toddlers (age range 25–37 months) performed the same picture-naming task. Italians produced more spoken correct labels than Japanese but a similar amount of representational gestures temporally matched with words. However, Japanese gestures reproduced more closely the action represented in the picture. Results confirm that gestures are linked to motor actions similarly for all children, suggesting a common developmental stage, only minimally influenced by culture.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
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ISSN:0191-5886
1573-3653
DOI:10.1007/s10919-011-0127-0