Abstract
Certain characteristics of the syntactic structures of the language of autistic children, such as their lack of mastery of pronomialization, have been described. It is proposed that further investigation of syntactic structures, particularly those related to deixis, may show a specific deviance in verbal autistic children. A pilot investigation of the production of tense markers in three autistic, three mentally retarded, and two normal children is reported. The testing for the production of tense inflections was done in a standardized structured test situation using pictures and toys. The transcripts were scored according to agreed-upon criteria for expecting the appearance of a certain tense form. Significant differences were found in the production of the past tense; the percent of correct responses was 80% for the normal children, 8% for the autistic subjects, and the mentally retarded subjects fell in between with 60%. It is concluded that the initial hypothesis of deviance of language acquisition in childhood autism, particularly in areas related to language deixis, is strengthened by the results.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bender, L. A twenty-five year view of therapeutic results. In P.H. Hoch & J. Zubin (Eds.),The evaluation of psychiatric treatment. New York: Grune & Stratton, 1964.
Berko, J. The child's learning of English morphology. In S. Saporta (Ed.).Psycholinguistics: A book of readings. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1961.
Cazden, B. D. The acquisition of noun and verb inflections.Child Development, 1968,39, 433–448.
Creak, M. Schizophrenic syndrome in children. Progress report of a working party.British Medical Journal, 1961,2, 889–890.
Cunningham, M. A., & Dixon, C. A study of the language of an autistic child.Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 1961,2, 193–202.
Edwards, A. L.Experimental design in psychological research. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1960.
Eisenberg, L. The autistic child in adolescence.American Journal of Psychiatry, 1956,112, 607–613.
Fay, W. H. On the basis of autistic echolalia.Journal of Communication Disorders, 1969,2, 38–47.
Fay, W. H. On normal and autistic pronouns.Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 1971,36, 242–249.
Fish, B., Shapiro, T., & Campbell, M. Long term prognosis and the response of schizophrenic children to drug therapy: A controlled study of trifluoperazine.American Journal of Psychiatry, 1966,123, 32–39.
Fish, B., Shapiro, T., Campbell, M., & Wile, R. A classification of schizophrenic children under five years.American Journal of Psychiatry, 1968,124, 1415–1423.
Frith, U. Emphasis and meaning in recall in normal and autistic children.Language and Speech, 1969,12, 29–38.
Goldfarb, W., Braunstein, P., & Lorge, I. A study of speech patterns in a group of schizophrenic children.American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 1956,26, 544–555.
Hermelin, B., & O'Connor, N. Remembering of words by psychotic and subnormal children.British Journal of Psychology, 1967,58, 213–218.
Hermelin, B., & O'Connor, N.Psychological experiments with autistic children. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1970.
Hollingshed, A. B., & Redlich, F. C.Social class and mental illness. New York: Wiley, 1958.
Kanner, L. Autistic disturbances of affective contact.Nervous Child, 1943,2, 217–250.
Kanner, L.Child psychiatry. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C Thomas, 1948.
Lovell, K., & Bradbury, B. The learning of English morphology in educationally subnormal special school children.American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 1967,71, 609–615.
Lyons, J.Introduction to theoretical linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968.
Menyuk, P.Sentences children use. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1969.
Provonost, W., Wakstein, M. P., & Wakstein, D. J. A longitudinal study of the speech behaviour and language comprehension of fourteen children diagnosed atypical or autistic.Exceptional Children, 1966,33, 19–26.
Rutter, M. The influence of organic and emotional factors on the origins, nature and outcome of childhood psychosis.Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 1965,7, 518–528.
Rutter, M., Bartak, L., & Newman, S. Autism — a central disorder of cognition and language? In M. Rutter (Ed.),Infantile autism: Concepts, characteristics, and treatment. London: Churchill, 1971.
Rutter, M., Greenfeld, D., & Lockyer, L. A five to fifteen year follow-up study of infantile psychosis. II. Social and behavioural outcome.British Journal of Psychiatry, 1967,113, 1183–1199.
Shapiro, T., Roberts, A., & Fish, B. Imitation and echoing in young schizophrenic children.Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 1970,9, 548–567.
Spradlin, J. E., & McLean, J. E. Linguistics and retardation. Paper presented at the American Speech and Hearing Association Convention, Chicago, November, 1967.
Tubbs, V. Types of linguistic disability in psychotic children.Journal of Mental Deficiency Research, 1966,10, 230–240.
Wing, J. F. Diagnosis, epidemiology, etiology. In J. K. Wing (Ed.),Early childhood autism: Clinical, educational, and social aspects. London: Pergamon Press, 1966.
Wolff, S., & Chess, S. An analysis of the language of fourteen schizophrenic children.Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 1965,6, 29–41.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This study was supported by grant No. 5 S01 RR05590, from Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ms. Lisa Barsky and Ms. Jessica Bondy of Swarthmore College assisted in data collection, transcript preparation, and scoring. Access to subjects was facilitated by The Developmental Center for Autistic Children, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bartolucci, G., Albers, R.J. Deictic categories in the language of autistic children. J Autism Dev Disord 4, 131–141 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02105366
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02105366