Explaining the Incomprehensibility of the Utterances of Speakers with
Autism Spectrum Disorder: Topic Drift and Topic Shift
Ulfa
Kurniasih
Department of Linguistics, Faculty of
Humanities, Universitas Indonesia
ulfakurniasih@gmail.com
Harwintha
Yuhria Anjarningsih
Department of Linguistics, Faculty of
Humanities, Universitas Indonesia
harwintha@ui.ac.id
Myrna Laksman-Huntley
Department of Linguistics, Faculty of
Humanities, Universitas Indonesia
laksman@ui.ac.id
This research
is an extension of previous research investigating children with Autism
Spectrum Disorder’s (ASD) spontaneous speech (e.g., Manolitsi & Botting, 2011) in relation with aspects of discourse
that influence a spoken discourse’s cohesion and coherence (e.g., Bishop, 1999). The addition lies in the
judgment by listeners demonstrating their comprehension of what is spoken
about, where both the speakers with ASD and listeners speak Bahasa Indonesia. The
research aims to: (1) describe listeners’ comprehension towards the unity of
spontaneous speech of adult individuals with ASD elicited with and without a picture;
(2) observe the overall structure of a verbal interaction of adult individuals with ASD if
listeners do not comprehend the message; and (3) investigate whether there are
differences in listeners’ comprehension towards verbal interactions of adult individuals
with ASD and those of typically developing children. The primary data comes
from the spontaneous speech of 2 adult individuals with ASD (chronological ages 25;3 and
22;9 years old; mental ages 6 and 7;6 respectively) and 6 typically developing
children comparable to the speakers with ASD’s mental ages. The recorded speech
is then rated by 12 adults (age range 24-37 years old) without any history of
neurological damage for topic maintenance, and how that influences their
comprehension. The judgment then becomes the secondary data. Findings about the
listeners’ comprehension are explained with reference to the existence of topic
drifts and shifts observed in the primary data. Results show that listeners’
comprehension is closely related to speakers’ ability to maintain the topic(s)
of the verbal interaction. Frequent topic shift and topic drift are found in the speech of the participants with ASD that
influence its comprehension by the listeners. In Indonesian
context, the findings may suggest the first steps in deciding what to include
in the training of communication or conversations for individuals with Autism
Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Keywords:
autism
spectrum
disorder; verbal interaction in Bahasa Indonesia; listener’s comprehension; topic shift; topic drift
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