How do people on the autism spectrum disorder and control group members assert an demonstrate thoughts of another person?

Authors

• Maria Frick Research Unit of Languages and Literature, University of Oulu
• Soile Loukusa Research Unit of Logopedics, University of Oulu
• Katja Dindar Research Unit of Logopedics, University of Oulu
• Leena Mäkinen Research Unit of Logopedics, University of Oulu
• Marja-Leena Mattila PEDEGO Research Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu and Clinic of Child Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital
• Hanna Ebeling PEDEGO Research Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu and Clinic of Child Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital
• Tuula Hurtig Research Unit of Clinical Neuroscience, PEDEGO Research Unit, University of Oulu and Clinic of Child Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23997/pk.107690

Keywords:

autism spectrum, direct speech, intersubjectivity, reported speech

Abstract

This paper examines participants’ responses to questions regarding the thoughts of another
person. The data is drawn from semi-structured interviews with 56 young adults, 26 of whom
have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Thee interviews are in Finnish. The focus
of this study is on linguistic means used by the participants in a task in which they are asked
to watch a video clip and then tell what one of the characters is thinking. A common type of
response to the latter question is an assertion, such as noo (.) se oli selvästi kiinnostunu siitä
(2.0) kurssista ja (.) siitä mitä siellä tehdään ja ’well, she was clearly interested in the course
and what it’s all about and’, which names the thought (e.g., kiinnostunu ‘interested’). The
responses also include demonstrations, such as kuulostaapa tosi hauskalta kurssilta haluanpa
itsekin mukaan sinne ‘ at sounds like a fun course. I think I’d like to join.’ The study shows
that individuals on the autism spectrum and control group members use similar linguistic
means in their reported speech utterances.
Most demonstrations in the data are combined with an assertion or other markers that show
a deictic shi between the reported speech situation and the situation here-and-now. Two
individuals on the autism spectrum, however, use a rare type of ‘bare demonstration’ which
is not linguistically tied to the situation here-and-now. We pose a hypothesis that this may
re ect some di culty of individuals on the autism spectrum in processing the complex
participation framework in a reported thought situation. In this part, ‘bare demonstrations’
resemble repetitive speech of children on the autism spectrum, which also re ects di culty
in intersubjective processing and interactional deictics. However, bare demonstrations are
not reproductions of something the speaker has heard but, instead, a creation of the speaker’s
own imagination.