Pointing gesture in young children: Hand preference and language development

Hélène Cochet (1) , Jacques Vauclair (2)

1 CLLE-LTC - Cognition, Langues, Langage, Ergonomie
2 PsyCLÉ - Centre de Recherche en Psychologie de la Connaissance, du Langage et de l'Émotion

This paper provides an overview of recent studies that have investigated the development of pointing behaviors in infants and toddlers. First, we focus on deictic gestures and their role in language development, taking into account the di erent hand shapes and the di erent functions of pointing, and examining the cognitive abilities that may or may not be associated with the production of pointing gestures. Second, we try to demonstrate that when a distinction is made between pointing gestures and manipulative activities, the study of children’s hand preference can help to highlight the development of speech-gesture links.

Mots clés: gestural communication; oddlers; handedness; speech- gesture system; pointing

Domaines: Psychologie

Hélène Cochet, Jacques Vauclair. Pointing gesture in young children: Hand preference and language development. Gesture, 2010, 10 (2/3), pp.129-149. ⟨10.1075/gest.10.2-3.02coc⟩. ⟨halshs-01464584⟩