Review of Anna Filipi, 'Toddler and Parent Interaction: The Organization of Gaze, Pointing and Vocalization.' Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2010

Abstract

This volume represents a valuable contribution to a growing literature expanding our understanding of the ontogenesis of meaning-making in infants. Filipi reports on a study of the developing everyday interaction between child and parent spanning the period during which 'infants are beginning to acquire language and develop a linguistic system' (p. 58), that is, from about 9 to 18 months of age. The study is concerned, specifically, with exploring the 'development of interactional competence' (p. 227) in infants in the context of everyday infant–parent interaction. The methodology used to frame the research questions, and to collect, record and analyse the data, is drawn from Conversation Analysis (hereafter CA). Filipi's analysis of infant-parent interaction draws the reader's attention to the degree to which infants are able to use gaze, gesture and vocalization as resources to contribute to the orderly co-construction of meaningful interactions in everyday settings, from before they are able to talk and while they are learning to talk, as well as to the ways, and the extent to which, infants develop their interactional skills during these interactions. The data on which the study is based are quite captivating. In accordance with the CA approach she has chosen, Filipi has collected videoed fragments of spontaneous, naturally occurring interactions from four infant-parent dyads, including a bilingual dyad, and transcribed these in meticulous detail using CA transcription conventions. A companion website makes it possible to view the video while reading the transcripts, a very helpful accompaniment to the text, given that Filipi's multimodal analysis gives equal status to gaze, gesture and vocalization as interactional resources.