A Crosslinguistic Study of Gesture and Lexical Development in South African Infants

Heather Brookes; Frenette Southwood; Patricia Makaure; Michelle J. White; Martin Mössmer; Carmen Defty; Sefela L. Yalala; Nina Brink; Helena Kruger; Muzi Matfunjwa; Mikateko Ndhambi; Sibusiso Ndlangamandla; Thuli M. Bhuda; Chelsea Bronn; Nomfundo Buthelezi; William Jiyana; F. Portia Khumalo; Lufuno Miriri; Nomsa Skosana

doi:10.1177/01427237251388512

A Crosslinguistic Study of Gesture and Lexical Development in South African Infants

Heather Brookes^*
, Frenette Southwood
, Patricia Makaure
, Michelle J. White
, Martin Mössmer
, Carmen Defty
, Sefela L. Yalala
, Nina Brink
, Helena Kruger
, Muzi Matfunjwa
, Mikateko Ndhambi
, Sibusiso Ndlangamandla
, Thuli M. Bhuda
, Chelsea Bronn
, Nomfundo Buthelezi
, William Jiyana
, F. Portia Khumalo
, Lufuno Miriri
, Nomsa Skosana

^*Corresponding author for this work

Speech Language Pathology & Audiology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This study compares early gesture and lexical development in 1,199 infants (0;8–1;6) across South Africa’s 11 official spoken languages using the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Gestures. We examined the effect of age, sex, ecological (urban-rural) setting, and maternal level of education (MLE) on early language development. Age was a significant predictor of gesture, comprehension, and production. There was no evidence of a female advantage, except in one language (Sesotho sa Leboa), where females were more likely to produce words. For ecological setting, results were mixed, with five out of 11 languages showing both positive and negative effects for urban versus rural environments. We found no evidence for the impact of MLE in seven out of 11 languages. We discuss possible explanations for these results.

Original language	English
Journal	First Language
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/01427237251388512
Publication status	Accepted/In press - 2025

Keywords

MB-CDI
South Africa
gesture development
infants
lexical development

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10.1177/01427237251388512

Cite this

Brookes, H., Southwood, F., Makaure, P., White, M. J., Mössmer, M., Defty, C., Yalala, S. L., Brink, N., Kruger, H., Matfunjwa, M., Ndhambi, M., Ndlangamandla, S., Bhuda, T. M., Bronn, C., Buthelezi, N., Jiyana, W., Khumalo, F. P., Miriri, L., & Skosana, N. (Accepted/In press). A Crosslinguistic Study of Gesture and Lexical Development in South African Infants. First Language. https://doi.org/10.1177/01427237251388512

@article{ab22003d2d7e4d4fb06270d9af838d48,

title = "A Crosslinguistic Study of Gesture and Lexical Development in South African Infants",

abstract = "This study compares early gesture and lexical development in 1,199 infants (0;8–1;6) across South Africa{\textquoteright}s 11 official spoken languages using the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Gestures. We examined the effect of age, sex, ecological (urban-rural) setting, and maternal level of education (MLE) on early language development. Age was a significant predictor of gesture, comprehension, and production. There was no evidence of a female advantage, except in one language (Sesotho sa Leboa), where females were more likely to produce words. For ecological setting, results were mixed, with five out of 11 languages showing both positive and negative effects for urban versus rural environments. We found no evidence for the impact of MLE in seven out of 11 languages. We discuss possible explanations for these results.",

keywords = "MB-CDI, South Africa, gesture development, infants, lexical development",

author = "Heather Brookes and Frenette Southwood and Patricia Makaure and White, \{Michelle J.\} and Martin M{\"o}ssmer and Carmen Defty and Yalala, \{Sefela L.\} and Nina Brink and Helena Kruger and Muzi Matfunjwa and Mikateko Ndhambi and Sibusiso Ndlangamandla and Bhuda, \{Thuli M.\} and Chelsea Bronn and Nomfundo Buthelezi and William Jiyana and Khumalo, \{F. Portia\} and Lufuno Miriri and Nomsa Skosana",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).",

year = "2025",

doi = "10.1177/01427237251388512",

language = "English",

journal = "First Language",

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Brookes, H, Southwood, F, Makaure, P, White, MJ, Mössmer, M, Defty, C, Yalala, SL, Brink, N, Kruger, H, Matfunjwa, M, Ndhambi, M, Ndlangamandla, S, Bhuda, TM, Bronn, C, Buthelezi, N, Jiyana, W, Khumalo, FP, Miriri, L & Skosana, N 2025, 'A Crosslinguistic Study of Gesture and Lexical Development in South African Infants', First Language. https://doi.org/10.1177/01427237251388512

TY - JOUR

T1 - A Crosslinguistic Study of Gesture and Lexical Development in South African Infants

AU - Brookes, Heather

AU - Southwood, Frenette

AU - Makaure, Patricia

AU - White, Michelle J.

AU - Mössmer, Martin

AU - Defty, Carmen

AU - Yalala, Sefela L.

AU - Brink, Nina

AU - Kruger, Helena

AU - Matfunjwa, Muzi

AU - Ndhambi, Mikateko

AU - Ndlangamandla, Sibusiso

AU - Bhuda, Thuli M.

AU - Bronn, Chelsea

AU - Buthelezi, Nomfundo

AU - Jiyana, William

AU - Khumalo, F. Portia

AU - Miriri, Lufuno

AU - Skosana, Nomsa

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - This study compares early gesture and lexical development in 1,199 infants (0;8–1;6) across South Africa’s 11 official spoken languages using the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Gestures. We examined the effect of age, sex, ecological (urban-rural) setting, and maternal level of education (MLE) on early language development. Age was a significant predictor of gesture, comprehension, and production. There was no evidence of a female advantage, except in one language (Sesotho sa Leboa), where females were more likely to produce words. For ecological setting, results were mixed, with five out of 11 languages showing both positive and negative effects for urban versus rural environments. We found no evidence for the impact of MLE in seven out of 11 languages. We discuss possible explanations for these results.

AB - This study compares early gesture and lexical development in 1,199 infants (0;8–1;6) across South Africa’s 11 official spoken languages using the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Gestures. We examined the effect of age, sex, ecological (urban-rural) setting, and maternal level of education (MLE) on early language development. Age was a significant predictor of gesture, comprehension, and production. There was no evidence of a female advantage, except in one language (Sesotho sa Leboa), where females were more likely to produce words. For ecological setting, results were mixed, with five out of 11 languages showing both positive and negative effects for urban versus rural environments. We found no evidence for the impact of MLE in seven out of 11 languages. We discuss possible explanations for these results.

KW - MB-CDI

KW - South Africa

KW - gesture development

KW - infants

KW - lexical development

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105026072278

U2 - 10.1177/01427237251388512

DO - 10.1177/01427237251388512

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105026072278

SN - 0142-7237

JO - First Language

JF - First Language

ER -

A Crosslinguistic Study of Gesture and Lexical Development in South African Infants

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