Chapter 8. Symbolic distancing in three-year-old children’s object-use pantomime

Abstract

Children’s early pantomime of how to use objects is thought to demonstrate “symbolic distancing,” ostensibly providing an opportunity to observe the development of symbolic reference between the ages of three- and six-years. This chapter argues, in contrast, that the modes of representation used by three-year-olds may be better explained by item, task, and communicative factors revealing children’s functional knowledge of objects and social knowledge of communicative conventions rather than symbolic development. Detailed analysis of the children’s manual mode of representation in conjunction with their speech challenges assumptions about which forms are viewed as more or less pantomimic. Interpretation of iconicity may be a function of human adult convention; we discuss the implications for our understanding of the role of iconic gestures depicting object-use in communicative situations.