Language gestures-01915

Despite the richness of the language infants receive in the first year of life, it is some time before they are able to speak themselves. Before they use language to communicate, they communicate with gestures. Well before 10 months of age, children engage in a lot of vocal behavior that appears to have some communicative value. Children's smiles and (most definitely) cries elicit parental behavior. Moreover, different cries are discriminated by parents, and these yield responses that differ in urgency as well as type. Still, these sounds are not true forms of intentional communication because infants do not display flexible, goal-directed behavior. For example, if a cry is ineffective in obtaining adult attention, young infants do not turn to another behavior, such as banging an object against the side of the crib. Thus, although infants' cries generally elicit parental responses, the infant is not using the cry for that purpose. Rather, it is simply a built-in response with predictable consequences. (topic 110)