The aim of this study was to analyze the use of representational gestures from a multimodal point of view in the transition from one‐word to multi‐word constructions. Twenty‐one Spanish‐speaking children were observed longitudinally at 18, 21, 24, and 30 months of age. We analyzed the production of deictic, symbolic, and conventional gestures and their coordination with different verbal elements. Moreover, we explored the relationship between gestural multimodal and unimodal productions and independent measures of language development. Results showed that gesture production remains stable in the period studied. Whereas deictic gestures are frequent and mostly multimodal from the beginning, conventional gestures are rare and mainly unimodal. Symbolic gestures are initially unimodal, but between 24 and 30 months of age, this pattern reverses, with more multimodal symbolic gestures than unimodal. In addition, the frequency of multimodal representational gestures at specific ages seems to be positively related to independent measures of vocabulary and morphosyntax development. By contrast, the production of unimodal representational gestures appears negatively related to these measures. Our results suggest that multimodal representational gestures could have a facilitating role in the process of learning to combine meanings for communicative goals.

中文翻译：

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向多词生产过渡中的多模态表征手势

本研究的目的是从多模态的角度分析表征手势在从单词到多词结构的转变过程中的使用。21 名讲西班牙语的儿童在 18、21、24 和 30 个月大时被纵向观察。我们分析了指示性、象征性和传统手势的产生及其与不同语言元素的协调。此外，我们探讨了手势多模态和单模态产生与语言发展的独立测量之间的关系。结果表明，手势产生在研究期间保持稳定。从一开始，指示手势就很频繁，而且大多是多模态的，而传统手势很少见，而且主要是单模态的。象征性手势最初是单峰的，但在 24 到 30 个月大之间，这种模式逆转了，具有比单模态更多的多模态符号手势。此外，特定年龄的多模态表征手势的频率似乎与词汇和形态句法发展的独立测量呈正相关。相比之下，单模态表征手势的产生似乎与这些措施呈负相关。我们的结果表明，多模态表征手势可以在学习为交流目标结合含义的过程中起到促进作用。