The Study of Autistic Children's Speech on the basis of Experiential Metafunction in the Framework of Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar

Document Type : Research original ,Regular Article

Authors
Nazila Sarshar 1
Mohammad Reza Oroji 2
Behzad Rahbar 3
1 Department of Linguistics, Zanjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Zanjan, Iran
2 department of linguistics, Zanjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Zanjan, Iran
3 Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Persian Literature an Foreign Languages, Allameh Tabataba'i, Tehran, Iran
10.30465/ls.2020.5679
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to study the speech of 6 to 10-year-old autistic children based on Systemic Functional Grammar. Two groups, namely experimental including seven 6-10-year-old autistic children and control group, with seven 6 to 10-year-old non-autistic children, participated in the study based on stratified random sampling. Data were collected and analyzed according to experiential metafunction. Results showed that material and existential processes had the highest and the lowest percentage respectively. Emphasis on material process is indicative of a vast cognitive difficulty in finding appropriate words. The material process accounted for the highest means in both groups, followed by relational and mental processes. The lowest mean in both groups belonged to existential process which was almost zero in experimental group. In all processes, the control group used more processes, depicting they fulfilled a higher number of functions including expressing ideas, evaluating and describing. The outcomes would be beneficial for all the psychologists, autism trainers, and linguists.
Keywords
Autism
discourse. Experiential metafunction
Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar
ابراهیمی‌پارسا، فاطمه. (1389). بررسی اختلالات زبانی کودکان دارای اتیسم پایان‌نامه کارشناسی ارشد، دانشگاه علامه طباطبایی، تهران.
بازیار، مهدی. (1391). تحلیل فرایندهای موجود در گفتمان افراد زبان‌پریش فارسی‌زبان در چارچوب زبان‌شناسی نقش‌گرای نظام‌مند. پایان‌نامه دکتری رشته زبان‌شناسی، دانشگاه علامه طباطبایی.
روح پرور، رحیمه، کرمی، مهدیه، مددی، محسن. (1393). مقایسه ویژگی‌‌های آوایی- واجی و صرفی-نحوی کودکان دارای اوتیسم با کودکان سالم. مجله توانبخشی نوین، 18 (3)، 64-68.

 

سلمانی، معصومه، محمودی بختیاری، بهروز و رئیسی، فیروزه. (1387). تجزیه و تحلیل کلام بیماران اسکیزوفرنیک از جنبه اصل همیاری گرایس. مجله توانبخشی، 29، 28-34.

 

عامری، حیات، گلفام، ارسلان، کولک، هرمان، عشایری، حسن، حق شناسی، علی محمد، کردزعفرانلو کامبوزیا، عالیه. (1387). بررسی تعامل بین توانایی پردازش توالی‌های شناختی و درک نحوی در بیماران فارسی‌زبان دارای زبان‌پریشی بروکا. مجله توانبخشی، 29، 20-27.

 
مهری، آذر، طحان زاده، بهنوش و جهانی، یونس .( 1389 ). بررسی کاربرد زمان‌های مختلف افعال فارسی در بیماران دارای زبان‌پریشی بروکای بی دستور. مجله شنوایی‌شناسی، 9 (1)، 78-85.
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, text revision DSM IV-TR. (4th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
Armstrong, E. M. (2001). Connecting lexical patterns of verb usage with discourse meanings in aphasia. Aphasiology,15, 1029–1046
 
Armstrong, E. M. (2005). Language disorder: A functional linguistic perspective. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 19(3), 137-153.
 
Armstrong, E. M. (207). Clause Complex relations in aphasic discourse: a longitudinal case study. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 7(4), 261-275
 
Bartolucci G, Pierce SJ, Streiner D, Eppel PT. (1976). Phonological investigation of verbal autistic and mentally retarded subjects. Autism Child Schizophr, 6, 303–316.
Boucher, J. (2003.Language development in autism. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngol, 1, 159-163.
 
Bushwick NL. (2001). Social learning and the etiology of autism. New Ideas in Psychology, 19, 49–75
Charman, T., Pickies, A., Simonoff, E., & Chandler, S. (2011). IQ in Children with autism spectrum disorders: Data from the special needs & Autism Project. Psychological Medicine, 41(3), 619-627.
Cohen, H., & Re´ millard, S. (2003). Encyclopedia of language and linguistics (ELL2)(2nd ed.). UK: Elsevier.
Ferguson, A. (1992). Interpersonal aspects of aphasic conversation. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 7, 277–294.
 
Halliday, M. A. K. (2004). An introduction to functional grammar (3rd ed.). London: Edward Arnold (Revised by C. M. I. M. Matthiessen).
 
Hart Barnett, J. E., & Whalon, K. (2011). Creating social opportunities for students with autism spectrum disorder in inclusive settings. Invention in Schools and Clinic, 46(5), 273-279.
 
Paul, R., Bianchi, N., Augustyn, A., Klin, A., & Volkmar, FR. (2008). Production of syllable stress in speakers with autism spectrum disorders. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 2,110-124
Rapin I, Dunn M. (2003). Update on the language disorders of individuals on the autistic spectrum. Brain and Development, 25, 166-172.

  • Receive Date 09 June 2020
  • Revise Date 18 August 2020
  • Accept Date 07 September 2020