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Ethnic differences in mother–infant language and gestural communications are associated with specific skills in infants
Author(s) -
TamisLeMonda Catherine S.,
Song Lulu,
Leavell Ashley Smith,
KahanaKalman Ronit,
Yoshikawa Hirokazu
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
developmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.801
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1467-7687
pISSN - 1363-755X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2012.01136.x
Subject(s) - gesture , imitation , psychology , ethnic group , language development , developmental psychology , language acquisition , nonverbal communication , utterance , child development , communication , linguistics , social psychology , philosophy , mathematics education , sociology , anthropology
We examined gestural and verbal interactions in 226 mother–infant pairs from Mexican, Dominican, and African American backgrounds when infants were 14 months and 2 years of age, and related these interactions to infants’ emerging skills. At both ages, dyads were video‐recorded as they shared a wordless number book, a wordless emotion book, and beads and string. We coded mothers’ and infants’ gestures and language/vocalizations. Each maternal utterance was coded as referential (e.g. ‘That’s a bead’) or regulatory (e.g. ‘Put it there’). Mothers reported on infants’ gestural, receptive, and productive vocabularies at 14 months, and infants were assessed on receptive language, expressive language, and action sequencing and imitation at 2 years of age. Mothers of the three ethnicities differed in their gesturing, distributions of the two types of language, and coupling of language and gestures. Mothers’ ethnicity, language, and gestures were differentially associated with infants’ 2‐year skills. Mother–infant communicative interactions are foundational to infant learning and development, and ethnic differences in modes of early communication portend divergent pathways in the development of specific skills.