In:
Journal of Child Language, Cambridge University Press (CUP), Vol. 42, No. 1 ( 2015-01), p. 122-145
Abstract:
The aim of this paper is to compare speech and co-speech gestures observed during a narrative retelling task in five- and ten-year-old children from three different linguistic groups, French, American, and Italian, in order to better understand the role of age and language in the development of multimodal monologue discourse abilities. We asked 98 five- and ten-year-old children to narrate a short, wordless cartoon. Results showed a common developmental trend as well as linguistic and gesture differences between the three language groups. In all three languages, older children were found to give more detailed narratives, to insert more comments, and to gesture more and use different gestures – specifically gestures that contribute to the narrative structure – than their younger counterparts. Taken together, these findings allow a tentative model of multimodal narrative development in which major changes in later language acquisition occur despite language and culture differences.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0305-0009
,
1469-7602
DOI:
10.1017/S0305000913000585
Language:
English
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Publication Date:
2015
detail.hit.zdb_id:
1466489-6
SSG:
5,2
SSG:
7,11
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