Cover not available

In:Studies in Chinese and Japanese Language Acquisition: In honor of Stephen Crain
Edited by Mineharu Nakayama, Yi-ching Su and Aijun Huang
[Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 60] 2017
► pp. 265–280

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Chapter 12
Logical expressions in Mandarin-speaking children with autism spectrum disorders

 | Central South University
Published online: 24 August 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.60.13su
Abstract
Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are traditionally believed to demonstrate profound impairment in processing semantic relations or concepts, in contrast to their relative strengths in syntax. This conclusion may be partially caused by the limitations of the traditional assessments, without incorporating fine-grained analyses of specific semantic properties that are crucial for revealing the nature of language acquisition in children with ASD. In this paper, two studies are reviewed which investigated the comprehension of logical expressions in 28 4- to 15-year-old Mandarin-speaking children with ASD and matched typical controls. Using a computer-based Truth Value Judgment task, the first study examined children’s interpretation of the logical words youxie ‘some’ and mei…huozhe…‘every…or…’. Using a computer-based Question Statement task, the second study assessed children’s understanding of the Mandarin wh-words shenme ‘what’ and shei ‘who’. The results of both studies provide evidence for the relative strengths of the interpretation of logical expressions in children with ASD. Thus, different from the traditional assumptions, it is possible that in the domain of semantics, several semantic properties may be selectively spared in children with ASD. We discuss the findings in the light of the possible contributions the language faculty makes to language acquisition, including in children with ASD.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Study 1 (Su & Su 2015): Interpretation of logical words
    • 2.1Methods
      • 2.1.1Participants
      • 2.1.2Methodology: Computer-based Truth Value Judgment Task
      • 2.1.3Procedure
    • 2.2Results and discussion
  • 3.Study 2 (Su et al. 2014): Interpretation of wh-words
    • 3.1Methods
      • 3.1.1Participants
      • 3.1.2Methodology: Computer-based Question-Statement Task
      • 3.1.3Procedures
    • 3.2Results and discussion
  • 4.General discussion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Note
  • References
References (29)
References
American Psychiatric Association. 2000. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edn, text rev. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edn. Arlington VA: American Psychiatric Publishing. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boucher, J. 2012. Research review: Structural language in autistic spectrum disorder – characteristics and causes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 53: 219–233. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chevallier, C., Wilson, D., Happé, F. & Noveck, I. 2010. Scalar inferences in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 40: 1104–1117. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Crain, S. 2008. The interpretation of disjunction in Universal Grammar. Language and Speech 51: 1–19. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2012. The Emergence of Meaning. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Crain, S. & Khlentzos, D. 2008. Is logic innate? Biolinguistics 2: 24–56.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2010. The logic instinct. Mind and Language 25: 30–65. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Crain, S. & Thornton, R. 1998. Investigations in Universal Grammar: A Guide to Experiments on the Acquisition of Syntax and Semantics. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eigsti, I.M., Bennetto, L. & Dadlani, M. 2007. Beyond pragmatics: Morphosyntactic development in autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 37: 1007–1023.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goodwin, A., Fein, D. & Naigles, L. 2012. Comprehension of wh-questions precedes their production in typical development and autism spectrum disorders. Autism Research 5: 109–123. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Guasti, M.T., Chierchia, G., Crain, S., Foppolo, F., Gualmini, A. & Meroni, L. 2005. Why children and adults sometimes (but not always) compute implicatures. Language and Cognitive Processes 20: 667–696. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kelley, E., Paul, J., Fein, D. & Naigles, L. 2006. Residual language deficits in children with a history of autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 36: 807–828. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kjelgaard, M.M. & Tager-Flusberg, H. 2001. An investigation of language impairment in autism: Implications for genetic subgroups. Language & Cognitive Processes 16: 287–308. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pietroski, P. & Crain, S. 2012. The language faculty. In The Handbook of Philosophy of Cognitive Science, E. Margolis, R. Samuels & S. Stich (eds), 361–381. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pijnacker, J., Hagoort, P., Buitelaar, J., Teunisse, J.-P. & Geurts, B. 2009. Pragmatic inferences in high-functioning adults with autism and Asperger Syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 39: 607–618. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rapin, I. & Dunn, M. 2003. Update on the language disorders of individuals on the autistic spectrum. Brain and Development 25: 166–172. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Saalasti, S., Lepisto, T., Toppila, E., Kujala, T., Laakso, M., Nieminem-von Wendt, T. & Jansson-Verkasalo, E. 2008. Language abilities in children with Asperger syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 38: 1574–1580. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Su, Y. (E.), Jin, Y., Wan, G. B., Zhang, J. S. & Su, L. Y. 2014. Interpretation of wh-words in high-functioning Mandarin-speaking children with autism spectrum disorders. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders 8: 1364–1372. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Su, Y. (E.), Su, L.Y. 2015. Interpretation of logical words in Mandarin-speaking children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Uncovering knowledge of semantics and pragmatics. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 45: 1938–1950. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Su, Y. (E.), Zhou, P. & Crain, S. 2012. Downward entailment in Child Mandarin. Journal of Child Language 39: 957–990. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tager-Flusberg, H. 1981. Sentence comprehension in autistic children. Applied Psycholinguistics 2: 5–24. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2000. The challenge of studying language development in children with autism. In Methods for Studying Language Production, L. Menn & N. Bernstein Ratner (eds), 313–332. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2001. Understanding the language and communicative impairments in autism. International Review of Research in Mental Retardation 23: 185–205. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tager-Flusberg, H., Paul, R. & Lord, C. 2005. Language and communication in autism. In Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders: Diagnosis, Development, Neurobiology, and Behavior, Volkmar, F., Paul, R., Klin, A. & Cohen, D.J. (eds), 335–364. Hoboken NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tek, S., Jaffery, G., Fein, D. & Naigles, L. 2008. Do children with autism show a shape bias in word learning? Autism Research 1: 202–215. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhou, P. 2015. Children’s knowledge of wh-quantification in Mandarin Chinese. Applied Psycholinguistics 36: 411–435. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhou, P. & Crain, S. 2011. Children’s knowledge of the quantifier dou in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 40: 155–176. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhou, P., Su, Y. (E.), Crain, S., Gao, L.Q. & Zhan, L.K. 2012. Children’s use of phonological information in ambiguity resolution: A view from Mandarin Chinese. Journal of Child Language 39: 687–730. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue