IL GESTO COME RISORSA BIO-LINGUISTICA

Research on the role played by gesture in language development have supported the hypothesis of a strong interconnection between language and movement (KIMURA, 1981; MCNEILL, 1992; PÜLVERMUELLER et alii, 1996; IVERSON & THELEN, 1999; BATES & FREDERIC, 2002). Motor actions of hand and mouth are present from birth but this link becomes significant as a result of shared social meaning. In early infancy, hand-to-mouth behaviour are extremely common in infants’ spontaneous movements and occur similarly both in hearing and deaf children (see FONTANA & VOLTERRA, 2012 for a review). Furthermore, similar motor constraints have been found in the production of gestures and a correlation between first actions and gestures in hearing and deaf toddlers has been pointed out in early language development (GALLESE & LAKOFF, 2005; CAPIRCI et alii, 2005, PETTENATI et alii, 2010). Action and gestures emerge as a biological link but soon acquire social meaning through action routines which establish and fix a convention (BATES, 1979). Transition from gesture to language occurs through the semiotic relationship between the caregiver and the child. In other words, what activates language is the relationship between child and adult. It has its origins in the biological sociality of human nature (STERN, 1985, 2010). As result of the child’s need of communication, gestures enable communication through relation and participation to social interactions and routines. The role of social interaction and relation with caregivers will be analysed by referring also to the Theory of Embodied Simulation (GALLESE & SINIGAGLIA, 2011) in order to show its importance in the transition from spontaneous movement to social and shared action and finally to the onset of communication made of gestures and vocalizations.