Through constant exposure to adult input in interaction, children's language gradually develops into rich linguistic constructions containing multiple cross-modal elements subtly used together for communicative functions. Sensorimotor schemas provide the "grounding" of language in experience and lead to children's access to the symbolic function. With the emergence of vocal or signed productions, gestures do not disappear but remain functional and diversify in form and function as children become skilled adult multimodal conversationalists. This volume examines the role of gesture over the human lifespan in its complex interaction with speech and sign. Gesture is explored in the different stages before, during, and after language has fully developed and a special focus is placed on the role of gesture in language learning and cognitive development. Specific chapters are devoted to the use of gesture in atypical populations. CONTENTS Contributors Aliyah Morgenstern and Susan Goldin-Meadow 1 Introduction to Gesture in Language Part I: An Emblematic Gesture: Pointing Kensy Cooperrider and Kate Mesh 2 Pointing in Gesture and Sign Aliyah Morgenstern 3 Early Pointing Gestures Part II: Gesture Before Speech Meredith L. Rowe, Ran Wei, and Virginia C. Salo 4 Early Gesture Predicts Later Language Development Olga Capirci, Maria Cristina Caselli, and Virginia Volterra 5 Interaction Among Modalities and Within Development Part III: Gesture With Speech During Language Learning Eve V. Clark and Barbara F. Kelly 6 Constructing a System of Communication With Gestures and Words Pauline Beaupoil-Hourdel 7 Embodying Language Complexity: Co-Speech Gestures Between Age 3 and 4 Casey Hall, Elizabeth Wakefield, and Susan Goldin-Meadow 8 Gesture Can Facilitate Children's Learning and Generalization of Verbs Part IV: Gesture After Speech Is Mastered Jean-Marc Colletta 9 On the Codevelopment of Gesture and Monologic Discourse in Children Susan Wagner Cook 10 Understanding How Gestures Are Produced and Perceived Tilbe Goeksun, Demet OEzer, and Seda AkbIyik 11 Gesture in the Aging Brain Part V: Gesture With More Than One Language Elena Nicoladis and Lisa Smithson 12 Gesture in Bilingual Language Acquisition Marianne Gullberg 13 Bimodal Convergence: How Languages Interact in Multicompetent Language Users' Speech and Gestures Gale Stam and Marion Tellier 14 Gesture Helps Second and Foreign Language Learning and Teaching Aliyah Morgenstern and Susan Goldin-Meadow Afterword: Gesture as Part of Language or Partner to Language Across the Lifespan Index About the Editors

When do human beings begin producing gestures, and how do they evolve throughout our cognitive and social development? This book investigates the rich and complex ways in which gesture precedes language development and then is used in conjunction with language across the lifespan. Some experts argue that gesture is a part of language, while others argue it is a partner to language. But all agree that gesture plays a major role in language development and practices, and therefore must be captured by scientific analyses. This volume explores gesture's many functions--communicative, restorative, cognitive--across cultures and ages, in monolingual and multilingual populations, in students and in teachers. Gestures, verbal productions, signs, gazes, facial expressions, and postures are all part of our socially learned, intersubjective communicative systems that we combine for the purpose of sharing meaning, referring to present and absent entities and events, expressing projects, desires, and feelings, and so much more. Collectively, the chapters demonstrate how gestures contribute to the cognitive and social development of humans within their lifespan, and may also indicate the efficacy of interactional practices and cognitive processes. This book is thought-provoking reading for psycholinguists, cognitive scientists, and all who study language development.