2023 Volume 25 Issue 2 Pages 25-39
This paper examines the language use of an individual with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), focusing on her repetitive pattern of use in conversation. The diagnostic criteria for ASD have changed significantly in recent years. These recent changes in criteria have resulted in a wide range of individuals being diagnosed with ASD and their behaviours have also become more diverse, sometimes resulting in a failure to detect repetitive patterns of language behaviour. The paper examines an individual’s use of repetition in both lexicon and phonology during first meeting conversations with three other adults. The results of the study indicate that the individual frequently uses repetition to accentuate the metapragmatic aspect of poetic function to achieve mutual understanding with interlocutors. This suggests that we may be able to understand the repetitive language behaviour of people with ASD by examining their utterances from perspectives such as metapragmatic strategies.
