The Relationship Between the Communicative Gesture and the Vocabulary Acquisition of Infants

7~24개월 영아의 의사소통적 몸짓과 어휘 습득간의 관계

This study examined variability of gestures and their correlation with vocabulary acquisition in the communication of infants. Subjects were 96 infants, 7 to 24 months of age, residing in Seoul and its vicinity. Instruments were the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (Iverson, et al., 1999) and the MacAuther Communicative Development Inventory-Korean (Bae and Lim, 2002). Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Pearson's Correlation. Results identified monthly changes in types of communicative gesture used by infants: more deictic at younger and more representational at older ages. Deictic gestures were related to size of the receptive vocabulary and size of the whole vocabulary. Representational gestures were related to acquisition of expressive vocabulary, size of the receptive, and size of the whole vocabulary.