Gesture and speech in variation sets directed to Spanish learning toddlers in adult–child interactions

ALAM F.; CASLA, M.; IBAÑEZ, M.I.; ROSEMBERG C. R.

First Language

Sage Publications

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2024

0142-7237

The study adopts a multimodal perspective, looking at adults’ use of gestures in variationsets (VS; i.e. sequences of partial self-repetitions occurring in successive utterances ofvarying form) addressed to Spanish-learning toddlers in adult–child interactions. We seekto address the following question: Do adults make simultaneous use of VS and gesturesto amplify their effect while interacting with toddlers? We consider the proportion ofbimodal utterances, the types of gestures, the pragmatic function of the utterances, andthe ongoing activity. Thirty 18-month-old children (17 Argentinian and 13 Spanish) andtheir principal caregivers were video recorded for 15minutes in spontaneous readingand playing situations. Transcriptions and annotations were done with ELAN. Resultsshowed that verbal utterances were more frequent than bimodal utterances in VS.Gestures were mostly used in VS with a regulatory function. Pointing was the type of gesture most frequently used, and its proportion increased in VS. Gestures were employed more frequently in book-sharing activities. Findings revealed that althoughVS are a bimodal (gesture and speech) phenomenon they are predominantly verbal and that regulatory pragmatic function explains adults’ use of gesture.