From Gestures to Signs in the Acquisition of Sign Language1

In signed languages, both linguistic signs and gestures are executed in the same modality. As a consequence, children acquiring a sign language may produce iconic gestures in that are close to appropriate conventional signs in referential contexts. Nevertheless, the child must master the conventional forms of expression of the language, including both points and signs. Particular problems are posed by the management of gaze and by communicative requirements to distance signs and gestures from referents. Early sign language acquisition can be seen as a gradual movement from gestural indices and icons to linguistic forms. We begin with a fundamental observation made by David McNeill in his landmark monograph, Hand and Mind, setting the stage for the role of gesture in language acquisition: As children acquire their language they are also constructing a speech-gesture system. Gesture and speech grow up together. We should speak not of language acquisition, but of language-gesture acquisition. (McNeill, 1992: 295