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Children's use of gesture to resolve lexical ambiguity
Article first published online: 6 APR 2009
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00830.x
© 2009 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
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How to Cite
Kidd, E. and Holler, J. (2009), Children's use of gesture to resolve lexical ambiguity. Developmental Science, 12: 903–913. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00830.x
Publication History
- Issue published online: 14 OCT 2009
- Article first published online: 6 APR 2009
- Received: 31 March 2008 Accepted: 12 August 2008
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Abstract
We report on a study investigating 3–5-year-old children's use of gesture to resolve lexical ambiguity. Children were told three short stories that contained two homonym senses; for example, bat (flying mammal) and bat (sports equipment). They were then asked to re-tell these stories to a second experimenter. The data were coded for the means that children used during attempts at disambiguation: speech, gesture, or a combination of the two. The results indicated that the 3-year-old children rarely disambiguated the two senses, mainly using deictic pointing gestures during attempts at disambiguation. In contrast, the 4-year-old children attempted to disambiguate the two senses more often, using a larger proportion of iconic gestures than the other children. The 5-year-old children used less iconic gestures than the 4-year-olds, but unlike the 3-year-olds, were able to disambiguate the senses through the verbal channel. The results highlight the value of gesture to the development of children's language and communication skills.