In many studies of child acquisition of language, gestures pave the way for children’s early nouns. One simple illustration of this is a child producing a deictic gesture for a particular object, for example a dog, approximately 3 months before they are able to verbally label it (Iverson & Goldin-Meadow, 2005). However, does this always mean that gestures precede speech?
In a Özçalışkan et al.’s (2013) study conducted on iconic gestures and children’s early verbs, it was revealed that the use of deictic gestures begins in children at 10 months, preceding the production of verbs in children by six months. However, the onset of iconic gestures conveying action meanings follows, rather than precedes the child’s first verbs. Examples of iconic gestures include flapping the arms to depict a bird flying or moving an empty fist forcefully forward to convey the meaning of “throwing”. Unlike pointing gestures, iconic gestures involve the representation of referent with a particular symbol, thus, imposing greater cognitive demands than deictic gestures. Eventually, gestures have come to complement vocalized ideas. These dynamic iconic gestures hence suggests the need for a inner verbal system before the communication of the an idea, be it in gestures or speech.
The findings of the study also suggest that children use gestures to expand their repertoire of action meanings, but only after they have begun to acquire the verb system that is underlying their language. Perhaps the theory suggesting that gestures precede speech only holds for gestures of less demanding cognitive functions of the brain, such as deictic gestures. Acquisition of verb and nouns is ultimately crucial to producing meaningful gestures that express relational concepts. Therefore, although the investigation of speech occurring before gestures seems hardly possible, it is arguable that an early inner verbal system that is fundamental for communication may have preceded gestures in human communication, as shown in studies conducted on children’s early verbs.
Gestures as primate communication – before speech. Photo: Dr. Catherine Hobaiter