1999 Volume 47 Issue 1 Pages 87-96
This study ontogenetically examined the relation between the ability of speech and gesture production. Four-year-old preschoolers, 5-year-old preschoolers, 1-3rd graders, 4th-6th graders, and university students (N=56) were instructed to explain a swing and a slide verbally. Their explanation was video-recorded and analyzed. The results showed that, although the total duration of speech production increased linearly as a function of age, the frequency of gestures changed tracing a U-shaped pattern. Gesture production decreased in school children but not in university students. Each group produced gestures different from those of other participants with regard to the pattern. Beats were produced only by university students while the viewpoint of gestures and speech-gesture relations differed between groups. Only university students produced gestures regarded to be profoundly related to language competence. Gestures produced during the early period of human development were considered complementary to language competence, while those produced by adults were seen as redundant to their speech.
