Gazes, Words, and Silences in Pragmatics

This book describes the role of eye contact in human communication by investigating the relationship between the eye gaze and the development of language and pragmatic skills. The author reveals that although the need for eye contact is an innate human characteristic, neurodevelopmental disorders can have adverse outcomes and delays in language and pragmatic skills. A comparative approach compares childhood disorders that affect pragmatics in animal species that are phylogenetically related to humans with those species that are not. This text appeals to students and researchers working in pragmatics and the philosophy of language.

Dr.  Paola Pennisi is a researcher and professor of Philosophy of Language at the Department of Adult and Childhood Human Pathology and the Department of Cognitive Sciences at the University of Messina. Her main research field is the linguistic and pragmatic profile in neurodevelopmental disorders. She has worked for the National Research Council as a research fellow expert in linguistic and cognitive processes for developing intersubjectivity and the social mind.