[PS-2.24] Changes in the coordination of gesture and vocalization in the transition to first words: evidence from Basque-babbling infants

Romero Andonegi, A. , de Pablo Delgado, I. , Gaminde Terraza, I. & Etxebarria Lejarreta, A.

Department of Language and Literature Didactics. University of the Basque Country

The aim of this study is to explore the coordination between gestural and vocal components in multimodal communicative patterns during the transition period to first word. We analyze longitudinally the communicative behaviors of 12 Basque children (6 girls, 6 boys) with different mother tongue from 9 to 21 months of age. All children were observed longitudinally in a semi-structured play situation with an adult. Infants were video-recorded in their homes or in their nursery school fortnightly 30-minute sessions from 9 to 21 months of age using a ZOOM camera, model QHD4. A total of 4176 communicative behaviors were coded gesturally and pragmatically (communicative status and specific pragmatic function). The pragmatic and gestural analyses of all vocalizations were annotated in ELAN program. Results showed a significantly increase of the multimodal communicative patterns from 12 months, and that differences on the vocalizations structure depending on the specific types of gestures involved. Thus, considering pragmatic function and vocalizations structure, we observe that gestures and speech combinations have a crucial role on early lexical development.