TY - JOUR

T1 - Natural reference

T2 - A phylo- and ontogenetic perspective on the comprehension of iconic gestures and vocalizations

AU - Bohn, Manuel

AU - Call, Josep

AU - Tomasello, Michael

N1 - Funding Information: We thank Elena Rossi, Sebastian Schütte, Anja Ibes, Judith Schlegel, Claudia Salomo, Roger Mundry, and Cristina Zickert for their help with the study. We also thank the children and parents who participated in the study as well as the staff at the Wolfgang Köhler Primate Research Center. Manuel Bohn received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 749229. Josep Call was supported by the ‘SOMICS’ ERC-Synergy grant no. 609819. Funding Information: We thank Elena Rossi, Sebastian Schütte, Anja Ibes, Judith Schlegel, Claudia Salomo, Roger Mundry, and Cristina Zickert for their help with the study. We also thank the children and parents who participated in the study as well as the staff at the Wolfgang Köhler Primate Research Center. Manuel Bohn received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 749229. Josep Call was supported by the ‘SOMICS’ ERC-Synergy grant no. 609819. Publisher Copyright: © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

PY - 2019/3/1

Y1 - 2019/3/1

N2 - The recognition of iconic correspondence between signal and referent has been argued to bootstrap the acquisition and emergence of language. Here, we study the ontogeny, and to some extent the phylogeny, of the ability to spontaneously relate iconic signals, gestures, and/or vocalizations, to previous experience. Children at 18, 24, and 36 months of age (N = 216) and great apes (N = 13) interacted with two apparatuses, each comprising a distinct action and sound. Subsequently, an experimenter mimicked either the action, the sound, or both in combination to refer to one of the apparatuses. Experiments 1 and 2 found no spontaneous comprehension in great apes and in 18-month-old children. At 24 months of age, children were successful with a composite vocalization-gesture signal but not with either vocalization or gesture alone. At 36 months, children succeeded both with a composite vocalization-gesture signal and with gesture alone, but not with vocalization alone. In general, gestures were understood better compared to vocalizations. Experiment 4 showed that gestures were understood irrespective of how children learned about the corresponding action (through observation or self-experience). This pattern of results demonstrates that iconic signals can be a powerful way to establish reference in the absence of language, but they are not trivial for children to comprehend and not all iconic signals are created equal.

AB - The recognition of iconic correspondence between signal and referent has been argued to bootstrap the acquisition and emergence of language. Here, we study the ontogeny, and to some extent the phylogeny, of the ability to spontaneously relate iconic signals, gestures, and/or vocalizations, to previous experience. Children at 18, 24, and 36 months of age (N = 216) and great apes (N = 13) interacted with two apparatuses, each comprising a distinct action and sound. Subsequently, an experimenter mimicked either the action, the sound, or both in combination to refer to one of the apparatuses. Experiments 1 and 2 found no spontaneous comprehension in great apes and in 18-month-old children. At 24 months of age, children were successful with a composite vocalization-gesture signal but not with either vocalization or gesture alone. At 36 months, children succeeded both with a composite vocalization-gesture signal and with gesture alone, but not with vocalization alone. In general, gestures were understood better compared to vocalizations. Experiment 4 showed that gestures were understood irrespective of how children learned about the corresponding action (through observation or self-experience). This pattern of results demonstrates that iconic signals can be a powerful way to establish reference in the absence of language, but they are not trivial for children to comprehend and not all iconic signals are created equal.

KW - evolution

KW - gesture

KW - iconicity

KW - language development

KW - onomatopoeia

KW - sound-symbolism

KW - Psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85055287051&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/desc.12757

DO - 10.1111/desc.12757

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 30267557

AN - SCOPUS:85055287051

VL - 22

JO - Developmental Science

JF - Developmental Science

SN - 1363-755X

IS - 2

M1 - e12757

ER -