The language-communication divide

Abstract

Has language developed to serve as a system of communication or one of thought? While language is clearly an excellent tool for communication, the possible contribution of higher order cognitive processes other than language to communication may provide insights on how we think about language evolution. Studies show that bilingualism improves communication skills, possibly due to boosting domain general processes, thus suggesting a divide between communication and formal language. However, to date little attention has been paid to bilingual atypical child populations presenting asymmetric developmental delays in language and communication skills. In this study, we explore the language-communication divide in bilingual and monolingual children diagnosed with High Functioning Autism (HFA), displaying primary communication difficulties, and those with Specific Language Impairment (SLI), displaying primary language difficulties. Children were tested on language, cognitive control, Theory of Mind (ToM), social comprehension and verbal communication. Results demonstrate that bilingual children with HFA exhibit enhanced cognitive control, ToM and social comprehension, which in turn improve their verbal communication as compared to their monolingual peers with HFA. On the other hand, no boost emerges in bilingual children with SLI, be it in cognitive control or ToM, though a weaker advantage (relative to the children with ASD) can be observed in their verbal communication skills, with significant mediation from social comprehension. The overall evidence suggests that language, though useful for communication, is not sufficient for communication, and may arguably not have evolved primarily for communicative purposes.

Linguistic markers of autism spectrum conditions in narratives: A comprehensive analysis

“…Third, participants of this study were all bilingual, which complicates comparability with previous studies of monolinguals. While new evidence supports that bilingualism can enhance cognition in ASC without intellectual disability ( Durrleman et al, 2022 ), it is an important question whether it also impacts on linguistic variables extracted here. Future work should also consider the practical implications of the present study.…”

Autism Detection in Children: Integrating Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing in Narrative Analysis

“…Specific challenges include difficulties with morphosyntax (grammar), lexical semantics (vocabulary and meaning), and phonology (sound processing) [ 80 , 81 , 82 ]. They are also impaired in the semantic and pragmatic domain [ 3 , 19 , 26 ], which has cascading negative effects on the children’s narrative microstructure and macrostructure. Language impairments are a hallmark feature of ASD and are strongly linked to its core traits.…”

“…Research in the language development of children with ASD provides testable predictions regarding the language features that may be severely impacted during early child language acquisition [ 17 ]. For instance, several studies have demonstrated that a substantial proportion of children with ASD exhibit significant delays in expressive vocabulary skills, primarily attributed to limited verbal imitations and gestures for initiating joint attention [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. Language assessment of children with ASD has historically included tools whose administration is usually time-consuming, thus hindering the early identification of effective intervention goals [ 23 ].…”

“…The elicitation of coherent discourse through picture-based narrative tasks has been a widespread practice of language assessment in young children, since narratives represent a universal form of discourse not being subject to the cultural biases commonly seen in standardized language tests [ 19 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]. Furthermore, narratives can be very informative about a wide range of language skills, ranging from the use of lexical and morphosyntactic aspects of language (also known as microstructure), to the quality of the overall story structure, including the use of cohesive ties and affective language, such as internal state terms, also known as constituting the story’s macrostructure [ 25 , 27 , 28 ].…”

Language Development of Autistic Children on Syntactic Acquisition in Indonesia through Story Stimulus

“…This limitation will lead to weak spoken language production abilities of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) so that it is necessary to improve decoding skills and linguistic comprehension skills (Astuti & Hidayat, 2018). The basic thing that determines the level of linguistic understanding skills other than lexical understanding is in the production of phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics (Durrleman et al, 2022). Based on the results of existing research, the development of the three subjects' acquisition of syntax experienced a significant increase.…”