From gesture to sign and from gesture to word. Pointing in deaf and hearing children.

Aliyah Morgenstern (1) , Stéphanie Caët (1) , Marie Leroy-Collombel (2) , Fanny Limousin (3) , Marion Blondel (3)

1 PRISMES - PRISMES - Langues, Textes, Arts et Cultures du Monde Anglophone - EA 4398
2 MoDyCo - Modèles, Dynamiques, Corpus
3 SFL - Structures Formelles du Langage

In this paper, we explore the issue of (dis)continuity between gestures and signs and gestures and words by comparing longitudinal follow-ups of a hearing monolingual French speaking child, a deaf signing child (LSF) and a hearing bilingual (French-LSF) child. Our study indicates that the bilingual (French, LSF) child presents an intermediary profile as far as her use of points is concerned. We also observe that that there is no brutal stopping in the use of points, nor are there any reversals in the two signing children. Our analyses do not enable us to differentiate pointing "gestures" from pointing used as linguistic signs. However, points are more and more combined to other signs, facial expressions, gaze, in complex linguistic productions and with more and more deictic and anaphoric values.

Mots clés: pointage; référence personnelle; langue des signes; acquisition; pointing; personal reference; sign language; language acquisition

Domaines: Linguistique

Aliyah Morgenstern, Stéphanie Caët, Marie Leroy-Collombel, Fanny Limousin, Marion Blondel. From gesture to sign and from gesture to word. Pointing in deaf and hearing children.. Gesture, 2010, 10:2, pp.172-201. ⟨10.1075/gest.10.2-3.04mor⟩. ⟨halshs-00637782⟩