La comprensione della comunicazione non verbale nei bambini bilingui

The main objective of the present study was to highlight possible advantages determined by experience with two diverse linguist codes in the comprehension of non-verbal communication. This specifically, in those communicative acts that, to be understood, require: good meta-cognitive competence, meta-representational ability, inferential ability and the capability to attribute to this and to other cognitive states, and to forsee the behaviors on the basis of these inferences. The communicative acts investigated were: direct, indirect, deceitful and ironic actions. Two different groups were examined, one in Canada and one in Italy. The group in Canada consisted of 100 children; 50 French-English bilingual and 50 monolingual English children. The group in Italy consisted of 50 children; 25 French-Italian bilingual and 25 monolingual Italian children. Results of the present study indicate that the ability to speak two languages aids in the comprehension of non-verbal communicative acts. In particular, this advantage is evident in those communications that require comprehension of intentions in complex situations (deceitful and ironic actions)