Linguistic Alignment in Adults with and Without Asperger's Syndrome

Slocombe, Katie; Alavrez, Ivan; Branigan, Holly; Jellema, Tjeerd; Burnett, Hollie; Fischer, Anja; Li, Yan Hei; Garrod, Simon; Levita, Liat

Abstract

Individuals with Asperger's Syndrome (AS)often have difficulties with social interactions and conversations.We investigated if these difficulties could beattributable to a deficit in the ability to linguistically convergewith an interlocutor, which is posited to be importantfor successful communication. To that end, participantscompleted two cooperative tasks with a confederate, whichallowed us to measure linguistic alignment with the confederatein terms of lexical choice, syntactic structure andspatial frame of reference. There was no difference in theperformance of individuals with AS and matched controlsand both groups showed significant alignment with theconfederate at all three levels. We conclude that linguisticalignment is intact in adults with AS engaged in structured,goal-directed social interactions.

Citation

Slocombe, K., Alavrez, I., Branigan, H., Jellema, T., Burnett, H., Fischer, A., …Levita, L. (2013). Linguistic Alignment in Adults with and Without Asperger's Syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 43(6), 1423 - 1436. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1698-2

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Nov 1, 2012
• Publication Date: 2013-06
• Deposit Date: May 15, 2022
• Journal: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
• Print ISSN: 0162-3257
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 43
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 1423 - 1436
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1698-2
• Keywords: Linguistic alignment; Asperger’s Syndrome; Autism spectrum disorder;Social communication; Conversation; Dialogue
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/429139