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Mothers' responses to infants' object-related gestures: influences on lexical development*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Elise Frank Masur
Elise Frank Masur
Affiliation:
Northern Illinois University
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Abstract

This paper examines four mothers' responses to three object-related gestures (pointing, extending objects, and open-handed reaching) by their first-born infants from 0; 9 to 1; 6, and the impact of their responses on the children's transition from gestural to verbal communication. Analysis revealed that the mothers responded differentially to their children's pointing gestures, reciprocating to a greater degree with labels of the indicated objects. The children, in turn, produced more object-labelling words with pointing than with other gestures. In addition, the mothers' labelling responses to pointing significantly predicted the extent of their children's object-naming vocabularies.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , February 1982 , pp. 23 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

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References

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