Abstract

CAMARGO, Janaina Franciele; SALOMAO, Nádia Maria Ribeiro; AQUINO, Fabíola de Sousa Braz  and  NUNES, Laísy de Lima. The gestures in mother-infant communication: a longitudinal study. Estud. pesqui. psicol. [online]. 2015, vol.15, n.2, pp.652-670. ISSN 1808-4281.

According to the social interaction perspective, the child's language development occurs through interactions established with the adult since the early ages. This study aimed to analyze the nonverbal communication of mother-infant dyads during the first year of life. The participants were six dyads, recorded during free play when babies were 6, 9 and 12 months old. The results showed that changes occur, especially at 9 months. The reaching gesture is no longer the single category used by the child and shall be replaced by the pointing gesture. It was also noticed that the representational gestures were observed only after that age. The deictic gestures most used in the establishment and maintenance of interactive episodes were reaching, by the babies, and showing, by mothers. It was noticed that changes in the child gestures during its development were accompanied by changes in maternal gestures. These results are relevant in the sense that they contribute to a greater knowledge about mother-infant gestural communication and its role in the child's linguistic development.

Keywords : mother-baby relations; language development; gestures.

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