How is multimodality used in early communication
Relationships with pragmatic function, referential-specificity level, and grammar
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19225877 |
|---|---|
| Authors | María Fernández-Flecha (0000-0002-2699-2509, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú), María Blume del Río (0000-0003-3786-8551, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú), Andrea Junyent Moreno (0000-0001-5764-8033, Independent researcher) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-05 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Gesture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1568-1475 • E-ISSN: 1569-9773 |
| Publisher | John Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL) |
| DOI | 10.1075/gest.25019.fer |
| OpenAlex | W7163659236 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 53 |
This study assessed if early multimodality increasingly involves more mature productions, in a pragmatic (i.e., declaratives) and referential (i.e., words) sense, and if it is associated with grammar, which would point to multimodality’s role in language development. Data is derived from the spontaneous multimodal behaviours of 8-to-28-month-old Peruvian children, along with data collected with the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDI). We found the production of multimodal behaviours that included words correlated positively (i) with age, an effect especially strong for declaratives, and (ii) with the spontaneous production of multiword utterances. Also, (iii) the production of multimodal behaviours correlated positively with the morphosyntactic complexity score (CDI), and (iv) multimodal behaviours involving vocalizations specifically correlated negatively with MLU (CDI). Therefore, early multimodality presents a language-oriented profile, increasingly favouring combinations with words and a declarative function, and correlating with multiword utterances, as well as with a more mature morphosyntactic profile
Language production · Multimodal therapy · Multimodality · Point (geometry) · Pragmatics · Production (economics) · Hearing Impairment and Communication · Language Development and Disorders · Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
Gesture Paves the Way for Language Development
From communication to language in two modalities
Language as a multimodal phenomenon
Gesture is at the cutting edge of early language development
A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Early Prelinguistic Gesture Development and Its Relationship to Language Development
Parent report of early lexical production in bilingual children
Pragmatic development in Peruvian children
Getting away from the point
Reference and attitude in infant pointing
Properties of vocalization- and gesture-combinations in the transition to first words
Gestures and words during the transition to two-word speech
Early lexical development in Spanish-speaking infants and toddlers
Developmental trajectories in infant pointing
How diverse is child language acquisition research
Language assessment via parent report
Origins of Human Communication
Developing communication through objects
The Role of Declarative Pointing in Developing a Theory of Mind
The Relationship Between Infant Holdout and Gives, and Pointing
Gesture development in Peruvianchildren and its relationship with vocalizations and vocabulary
Learning How to Say What One Means
Proceso de adaptación de los Inventarios de Desarrollo Comunicativo MacArthur-Bates al castellano estándar del Perú
Qué comprenden y dicen los niños peruanos en la primera infancia? Resultados preliminares de tamaño y composición del vocabulario entre los 8 y los 30 meses de edad
Show, give, and point gestures across infancy differentially predict language development
Development of cross-linguistic variation in speech and gesture
Gestures and some key issues in the study of language development
From Babbling to Speech
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |