How is multimodality used in early communication?

Abstract This study assessed if early multimodality increasingly involves more mature productions, in a pragmatic (i.e., declaratives) and referential (i.e., words) sense, and if it is associated with grammar, which would point to multimodality’s role in language development. Data is derived from the spontaneous multimodal behaviours of 8-to-28-month-old Peruvian children, along with data collected with the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDI). We found the production of multimodal behaviours that included words correlated positively (i) with age, an effect especially strong for declaratives, and (ii) with the spontaneous production of multiword utterances. Also, (iii) the production of multimodal behaviours correlated positively with the morphosyntactic complexity score (CDI), and (iv) multimodal behaviours involving vocalizations specifically correlated negatively with MLU (CDI). Therefore, early multimodality presents a language-oriented profile, increasingly favouring combinations with words and a declarative function, and correlating with multiword utterances, as well as with a more mature morphosyntactic profile.