Early Pointing Gestures in Zincantán:
John B. Haviland
Starting with naturally occurring (proto–) pointing gestures of two infants, I examine the role and nature of early gesture in language acquisition and socialization in the Tzotzil-speaking community of Zinacantán, in Chiapas, Mexico. Early "words" are, not surprisingly, only part of the story, since verbalizations are embedded in wider communicative routines that characteristically involve gesture. Although the precursors to gesture have been linked to "practical actions," I argue that considerable conceptual complexity must be involved in emancipating, for example, pointing from grabbing or reaching. I suggest that the developments—both cognitive and sociointeractive— that accompany emerging gesture are consistent with the interactive and conceptual bases for later language development, despite doubts in Western psycholinguistics about both infants' communicative intentions and about the continuity or lack thereof between specifically linguistic and other cognitive attainments. Attention to metalinguistic theorizing in communicative traditions, like that of Zinacantdn, which posit no radical discontinuity between gesture and the rest of language, and which conceive of even small infants as emerging interactive participants, may provide a useful theoretical corrective.