Child Language Lab, School of Foreign Languages, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China.
Child Language Lab, School of Foreign Languages, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China.
J Commun Disord. 2024 Jul-Aug;110:106427. doi: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2024.106427. Epub 2024 May 9.
Mixed findings have been reported about the computation of scalar or/and ad-hoc implicatures in primarily school-age autistic verbal children and adolescents: while some studies reported their struggles with both implicatures, others observed their strengths in computing scalar implicatures. This study extends the previous investigation by testing the derivation of scalar (including both number and quantifier) and ad-hoc implicatures of a younger group of Mandarin-speaking autistic 4-8-year-olds; moreover, we assess the biological, linguistic, and cognitive factors affecting children's implicature acquisition.
The participants included 22 4-8-year-old autistic verbal children (mean age = 67.64 months) and 19 typically developing (TD) children who did not significantly differ in age, receptive vocabulary, and non-verbal IQ. Both groups completed a computer-based Truth Value Judgment task, assessing their knowledge of scalar (involving the number 'three' and the quantifier 'some') and ad-hoc implicatures. We also examined whether their implicature computation was linked to age, receptive vocabulary, non-verbal IQ, and Theory of Mind (ToM).
Compared with the TD controls, autistic children derived significantly fewer scalar and ad-hoc implicatures. Specifically, TD children successfully computed number and ad-hoc implicatures, contrasting to the bimodal distribution of their pragmatic vs. logical responses to quantifier implicatures. Though autistic children performed better with number implicatures slightly above the chance level, they had difficulties in computing quantifier and ad-hoc implicatures. Further, autistic children's knowledge of the number and ad-hoc implicatures was linked to their ToM skills.
These findings underscore the overall delayed implicature knowledge of young autistic children, and their low sensitivity to the implicatures is related to the core ToM deficits. Furthermore, our data confirm the coherent pattern of the earlier acquisition of number over quantifier implicatures and illuminate the distinct mechanisms underlying the computation of scalar vs. ad-hoc implicatures.
关于主要是学龄期自闭症言语儿童和青少年对数量和特设含意的计算，已有混合的研究结果报告：一些研究报告称他们在计算这两种含意时都存在困难，而另一些研究则观察到他们在计算数量含意方面的优势。本研究通过测试更年轻的一组讲普通话的自闭症 4-8 岁儿童对数量（包括数量和量词）和特设含意的推导，扩展了先前的研究；此外，我们评估了影响儿童含意习得的生物、语言和认知因素。
参与者包括 22 名 4-8 岁自闭症言语儿童（平均年龄=67.64 个月）和 19 名未在年龄、接受性词汇和非语言智商方面有显著差异的典型发育（TD）儿童。两组均完成了一项基于计算机的真值判断任务，评估他们对数量（涉及数字“三”和量词“一些”）和特设含意的理解。我们还检查了他们的含意计算是否与年龄、接受性词汇、非语言智商和心理理论（ToM）有关。
与 TD 对照组相比，自闭症儿童推导的数量和特设含意明显较少。具体来说，TD 儿童成功计算了数量和特设含意，与他们对量词含意的语用和逻辑反应的双峰分布形成对比。尽管自闭症儿童在计算数量含意方面的表现略高于机会水平，但他们在计算量词和特设含意方面存在困难。此外，自闭症儿童对数量和特设含意的了解与他们的 ToM 技能有关。
这些发现强调了年轻自闭症儿童整体上延迟的含意知识，他们对含意的敏感性较低与核心 ToM 缺陷有关。此外，我们的数据证实了数量含意早于量词含意的一致习得模式，并阐明了计算数量和特设含意的不同机制。
