RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Nomikou, Iris A1 Schilling, Malte A1 Heller, Vivien A1 Rohlfing, Katharina. J. YR 2016 T1 Language-at all times: Action and interaction as contexts for enriching representations JF Interaction Studies VO 17 IS 1 SP 120 OP 145 DO https://doi.org/10.1075/is.17.1.06nom PB John Benjamins SN 1572-0373, AB This article discusses the importance of social interaction for the development of the representations for symbolic communication. We suggest that there is no need to distinguish between different representational systems emerging at different stages of development. Instead, we propose that representations are rich right from the beginning of a child’s life, and that they are driven mainly by acting and interacting in the physical and social world. The more variety in a child’s interactional experience (i.e., synchrony, sequentiality, and prediction), the more enriched and abstracted the representations become. We review literature providing evidence for the ways in which infants’ development toward symbolic communication benefits from repeated social (inter)action and consider some implications for computational approaches., UL https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/is.17.1.06nom