Stages and transitions in children’s semiotic development
Author
Editor
- Jordan Zlatev
- Mats Andrén
- Carita Lundmark
- Marlene Johansson
Summary, in English
Stage models were prevalent in developmental psychology in
the past, but have recently been subjected to much criticism. We propose
“rehabilitation”, defining semiotic stage as a (not necessarily stable) period
characterized by the clear establishment of a novel semiotic capacity,
which may “dominate” the communication of the child at this stage, but
does not replace capacities from previous stages. This is spelled out by
adopting one particular model of semiotic development – the Mimesis
Hierarchy (Zlatev 2008a, 2008b) – and presenting comparative and
developmental data from 6 children in Sweden and Thailand, between 18
and 27 months of age, analyzing their acts of bodily communication
(ABCs) in relation to their emerging linguistic capacities. The results show
evidence for a transition around 20 months, when children display the use
of (stable) signs, shared with their community, in both the linguistic and
gestural modalities, but do not yet systematically combine them. Only
towards the end of the period under study does this begin to occur on a
more routine basis. Implications are drawn for the continuous debate “insight” vs. gradual development in ontogeny, suggesting a compromise.
the past, but have recently been subjected to much criticism. We propose
“rehabilitation”, defining semiotic stage as a (not necessarily stable) period
characterized by the clear establishment of a novel semiotic capacity,
which may “dominate” the communication of the child at this stage, but
does not replace capacities from previous stages. This is spelled out by
adopting one particular model of semiotic development – the Mimesis
Hierarchy (Zlatev 2008a, 2008b) – and presenting comparative and
developmental data from 6 children in Sweden and Thailand, between 18
and 27 months of age, analyzing their acts of bodily communication
(ABCs) in relation to their emerging linguistic capacities. The results show
evidence for a transition around 20 months, when children display the use
of (stable) signs, shared with their community, in both the linguistic and
gestural modalities, but do not yet systematically combine them. Only
towards the end of the period under study does this begin to occur on a
more routine basis. Implications are drawn for the continuous debate “insight” vs. gradual development in ontogeny, suggesting a compromise.
Department/s
Publishing year
2009
Language
English
Pages
380-401
Publication/Series
Studies in Language and Cognition
Document type
Book chapter
Publisher
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Topic
- General Language Studies and Linguistics
Keywords
- gesture
- children
- development
- cognition
- semiotics
Status
Published