Multimodality as a way of analysis: contributions to language acquisition research

• Autor(a) principal: de Almeida, Andressa Toscano Moura de Caldas Barros
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Carvalho Bezerra Cavalcante, Marianne
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: letrônica
• Texto Completo: https://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/ojs/index.php/letronica/article/view/26403
• topic: Language acquisition; Multimodality; Gesture; Prosody; Mother-baby interaction.; Aquisição de linguagem; Multimodalidade; Gesto; Prosódia; Interação mãe-bebê.; aquisição de linguagem; multimodalidade; gesto; prosódia

Considering multimodality as part of language, we choose it as a way of analysis in language acquisition. Multimodality refers to the modalities of use of the language (speech, gesture, gaze) that complement one another in linguistic production aiming at interaction. In addition, we chose prosody, for it is an element of speech, as a privileged way of engaging the child in dialogue and subjective processes, and as a cohesive factor in the organization of the phonic form and in the principles of phonological structuring (SCARPA, 1988). For this work, we will show how prosody and gesturefunction to form the gesture-speech matrix of a child in the process of language acquisition. Our point of departure are the proposals of Kendon (1972, 1980) and McNeill (1985, 1992), in which gesture and speech are inseparable. To illustrate our study, we will present longitudinal and naturalistically recorded data from a mother-child dyad, recorded from 6 to 24 months old of the child and treated using the software PRAAT. Our data showed that even when still small, the child makes use of multimodal instances for the purpose of interaction with their peers, corroborating the idea that gesture and speech are parts of the same matrix of meaning.