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Do Individuals with High-Functioning Autism Who Speak a Tone Language Show Intonation Deficits?

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Abstract

This study investigated whether intonation deficits were observed in 19 Cantonese-speaking adults with high-functioning autism (HFA) when compared to 19 matched neurotypical (NT) controls. This study also investigated the use of sentence-final particles (SFPs) and their relationship with intonation in both groups. Standard deviations (SDs) of the fundamental frequency (F0), the total number and the type of SFPs were calculated based on narrative samples. The HFA group demonstrated significantly higher SD of F0 and a positive correlation between the type of SFPs and SD of F0. Both groups produced a similar total number and type of SFPs. The results supported the universality of atypical intonation in ASD. The relationship between intonation and SFPs could be further explored by focusing on sentences containing SFPs.

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Acknowledgments

This study was partly supported by Small Project Funding, The University of Hong Kong (201209176020) awarded to Carol K. S. To. We thank all the participants in the project.

Author Contributions

CT conceived of the study, interpreted the data, drafted the manuscript; KC participated in the analysis and interpretation of the data and draft the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, China

    Kary K. L. Chan & Carol K. S. To

Authors
  1. Kary K. L. Chan
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  2. Carol K. S. To
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Correspondence to Carol K. S. To.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 4.

Table 4 Written characters and romanization of sentence-final particles adopted from Kwok (1984)
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Chan, K.K.L., To, C.K.S. Do Individuals with High-Functioning Autism Who Speak a Tone Language Show Intonation Deficits?. J Autism Dev Disord 46, 1784–1792 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2709-5

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