Gesture in Language

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Through constant exposure to adult input, children’s language develops into complex linguistic constructions with cross-modal elements for communication. Sensorimotor schemas ground language in experience, facilitating access to symbolic functions. As children produce vocal or signed outputs, gestures persist, diversifying in form and function, allowing them to become adept multimodal conversationalists. This volume explores the role of gesture throughout the human lifespan, examining its intricate relationship with speech and sign. It focuses on gesture's significance in language learning and cognitive development, with dedicated chapters addressing atypical populations. The contents include an introduction to gesture in language and sections on emblematic gestures like pointing, early gestures predicting language development, and the interaction of modalities. It discusses how gestures and words create communication systems, the complexity of co-speech gestures in young children, and how gesture facilitates learning. Further, it covers gesture after speech mastery, the co-development of gesture and monologic discourse, and gesture production and perception. The volume also addresses gesture in bilingual acquisition, bimodal convergence in multilingual users, and the role of gesture in second language learning. An afterword reflects on gesture as a component of language across the lifespan.