On Linking Nonverbal Imitation, Representation, and Language Learning in the First Two Years of Life

This book is a collection of research on diverse aspects of imitation with a focus on how imitation contributes to language learning. Most of the chapters are concerned with imitative processes in language itself, with the imitation of syntactic forms or lexical items. A primary aim of this chapter is to discuss a different face of imitation—that of nonverbal imitation, and, in particular, nonverbal deferred imitation. The capacity to use deferred imitation is an integral part of the ability to use words productively. One elementary prerequisite for using a particular form like chapeu or hat, for example, is that children be able to retain and imitate the specific target word they have heard in their culture. Understanding the ontogenetically prior development of nonverbal deferred imitation may help illuminate a basic cognitive prerequisite of language acquisition.