Development of Vocal and Motor Behaviours in an Infant: Preliminary Findings

Abstract

Previous work has suggested that oral and manual systems co-emerge in a developing child which leads to the emergence of a more adult-like, precisely-timed coupling of gesture and speech (Iverson & Thelen, 1999). This study aimed to document the frequency of occurrence of vocalic and body movement gestures namely, hand, facial expression, facial movements and eye gaze in infants (using ELAN software) and to understand the emergence of vocal-motor link in a single typically developing child. The child was from a Kannada speaking family and the mother-infant dyad interactions were audio-video recorded once a month, from the 3rd to the 5th month. Results indicated that a typically developing infant is endowed with a repertoire of vocal, facial, and bodily signals and as young as 5 months there is a clear indication of strong vocal-motor linkage in expression.