The investigation of communication behaviour from a multimodal perspective (verbal language + body movements) has been extensively developed within the past 20 years (Kendon, 1980, 1990 ; Cosnier & Brossard, 1984) Today, researchers who deal with language and language development begin to be aware of the relevance and significance of such an investigation A substantial volume of observation concerning adult speakers and social interaction between adults in various languages is now available (Poggi & Magno Caldognetto, 1997 ; Bouvet, 2001 ; Calbris, 2003 ; Kendon, 2004) The multimodal study of child language is not so far advanced, but the available data suggest that the gestural system associated with speech undergoes considerable development after the age of two years (Montagner, 1978 ; McNeill, 1992 ; Iverson & Goldin- Meadow, 1998 ; Guidetti, 2003) The statement that new gestural behaviour (pointing, representational gestures) arises at the same time as new lexical and syntactic abilities in young children is consistent with this hypothesis (Capirci et al., 1996, 2002 ; Goldin-Meadow & Butcher, 2003 ; Özçaliskan & Goldin-Meadow, 2005) Thus, the use of gestures, postures and facial expressions directly linked to speech should develop as the child acquires new cognitive and linguistic abilities Late speech development and gesture development
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