Gone and not Understood: Omission Repercussions in the Utterances of Adults Suffering from ASD

Gone and not Understood: Omission Repercussions in the Utterances

of Adults Suffering from ASD

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

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder causing disability in communicating and expressing feelings. Frith (2004, p. 2) states that autism disorders experienced by a person can cover all levels of intelligence and language abilities and severity. Individuals with ASD who can conduct reciprocal dialogues generally find it difficult to move flexibly from one topic to another. They often respond inappropriately to signals given by others (Tager-Flusberg & Anderson, 1991; Volden, Coolican, Garon, White, & Bryson, 2008). This research is an extension of previous research investigating children with ASD’s language development (e.g., Rice, Warren, & Betz, 2005) in relation with aspects of discourse that influence spoken omissions (e.g., Halliday & Hasan, 1976).

As a linguistic investigation about how adults suffering from ASD use omissions in the utterances produced, the primary data comes from the spontaneous speech of 2 adults suffering from ASD and 6 typically developing children. Normal children are included in the control group as a comparison to see the omission phenomenon with storytelling technique with or without a picture to be described, the two methods used. In the second method that is without aid, a general theme has been prepared to be proposed to the research participants.

It is shown that the omission phenomenon taking place in the utterances of adults suffering from ASD and in children as the control group is quantitatively not significantly different; however, qualitatively it has symptoms that can be used to compare the two groups. Such characteristics are related to the issues of autism spectrum disorder on the communication ability in giving responses to the partners in speaking. Finally, the result of this research can be the first step in diagnosing communication disorders experienced by people suffering from ASD speaking Bahasa Indonesia as their mother tongue.

In general, the references of the omissions by adults suffering from ASD are difficult to determine. This study confirms and shows linguistic evidence for DSM-V that focuses on deficits in social communication, and fixated interest and repetitive behavior.

Keywords: autistic language; language disorder; omissions in Bahasa Indonesia; deficits in social communication