ScholarWorks@숙명여자대학교

초록

Traditional discourse on language development assumes that the process is universal, linear, and stage-based, with all children following the same path toward a socially agreed-upon form of “speech.” This assumption functions as an unquestioned “truth,” reinforcing consensus-based distinctions such as “normal,” “delayed,” and “disabled.” Within this framework, 0-year-old infants are regarded as passive “language learners” in the pre-speech stage expected to follow “normal” process. This study challenges that premise: are 0-year-old infants truly passive beings? From a poststructuralist perspective, it seeks to reinterpret the various actions of infants, thereby defying the prevailing discourse on language development. It examines nonverbal behaviors such as crying, laughter, movement, gaze, and facial expressions become language, revealing the existence of a unique linguistic world for 0-year-old infants. To this end, five 0-year-old infants were observed in their homes for approximately one year. Findings indicate that their nonverbal behaviors, including variations in crying intensity, laughter, movement, gaze, and facial expressions, carried distinct linguistic meanings. These behaviors were not mere reflexive responses, but intentional communicative acts aimed at expressing needs or desires to others. The language of 0-year-old infants thus exhibits symbolic and communicative functions, as a “surplus language” that exists outside traditional linguistic frameworks, generated through interaction with the environment. This study proposes that understanding infant language requires attending not to “what they say” but to “how they exist and act,” with the aim of broadening the horizons of research on early language.

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