DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROPSYCHOLOGY, 22(1), 323–349 Copyright © 2002, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Putting Language Back in the Body: Speech and Gesture on Three Time Frames Spencer D. Kelly Department of Psychology—Neuroscience Program Colgate University Jana M. Iverson Department of Psychological Sciences University of Missouri-Columbia Joseph Terranova, Julia Niego, Michael Hopkins, and Leslie Goldsmith Department of Psychology—Neuroscience Program Colgate University This article investigates the role that nonverbal actions play in language processing over 3 different time frames. First, we speculate that nonverbal actions played a role in how formal language systems emerged from our primate ancestors over evolutionary time. Next, we hypothesize that if nonverbal behaviors played a foundational role in the emergence of language over evolution, these actions should influence how children learn language in the present. Finally, we argue that nonverbal actions continue to play a role for adults in the moment-to-moment processing of language. Throughout, we take an embodied view of language and argue that the neural, cognitive, and social components of language processing are firmly grounded in bodily action. Human language is special because it is at the pinnacle of the mind’s capabilities and is most notably what separates our minds from the minds of other thinking an- imals. Language is so special, in fact, that many people have argued that there is a designated language device built into the human brain at birth. These views, made Requests for reprints should be sent to Spencer D. Kelly, Colgate University, Department of Psychology/Neuroscience Program, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, NY 13346. E-mail: skelly@mail. colgate.edu