Conférence de M. Gullberg le 7 avril à Saint-Denis

[jlaroui at UNIV-PARIS8.FR]

L'UMR 7023 a le plaisir de vous convier, dans le cadre des séances de son
séminaire,

le lundi 7 avril
10h00-12h00, Université Paris VIII, 2, rue de la liberté, 93200
Saint-Denis (métro Saint-Denis Université, ligne 13), bâtiment D, salle D
143,

à une conférence de Marianne Gullberg (Max Planck Institute for
Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen)

intitulée
« Gestures and the development of semantic representations in first and
second language »

Résumé :
In language acquisition research gestures are traditionally mainly seen as
a compensatory mode of expression for learners (Gullberg, 2006, 2008;
Gullberg, de Bot, Volterra, in press). In this talk I will present a
series of studies that explore whether child and adult language learners’
gestures are mediated by their linguistic development, namely their
understanding of verb meanings. The target domain is of that of placement,
e.g. putting a cup on a table. Although gestures in this domain could
neutrally depict placement as an imitation of the practical manual action,
adult native gesture use appears to be influenced by verb meanings and
concomitant event construals. The first study shows how different
placement verb semantics in Dutch and French is reflected in two
cross-linguistically distinct patterns of gestural forms. The second study
demonstrates how Dutch children's placement gestures change systematically
as their understanding of placement verbs develops. Finally, the last
study illustrates different gesture patterns in adult advanced Dutch
learners of French depending on influences of the L1 and different degrees
of semantic reorganisation. Together the studies support the theoretical
notion that speech and gesture form an integrated system as revealed (a)
in robust crosslinguistic differences in gestural practices, which
parallel differences in speech, and (b) in similar parallel differences
across modalities in development. There is little support for the position
that gestures chiefly form a compensatory support system either in child
or adult learners. The integrated nature of the systems further means that
gestures opens new possibilities for studying details of semantic
representations which may go undetected in speech; and that they can shed
light on the process of acquisition by revealing shifts in such
representations. (276)


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