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Telegraphic Speech

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Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders

Synonyms

Early multiword utterances; Three-word phrases and sentences

Definition

Telegraphic speech is a concise message characterized by the use of three-word short phrases or sentences made up of main content words such as nouns and verbs and void of function words and grammatical morphemes such as articles (e.g., the, a), auxiliaries or modals (e.g., is, are, can), prepositions (e.g., in, on), and tense morphemes (e.g., -ing, -ed, -s). The omission of certain words and grammatical morphemes resembles what is typically seen in a brief telegram, hence the term telegraphic speech. Telegraphic speech is seen developmentally when a child moves beyond the two-word, relational stage of language development and begins to express longer, three-word sentences using a finite set of grammatical categories, such as nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

Information regarding language developmental milestones (including the use of telegraphic speech) of children with autism is somewhat lacking. Autism is...

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References and Readings

  • Brown, R. (1973). A first language: The early stages. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

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  • Demuth, K. (1994). On the underspecification of functional categories in early grammars. In B. Lust, M. Suner, & J. Whitman (Eds.), Syntactic theory and first language acquisition: Cross-linguistic perspectives (pp. 119–1234). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

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  • Hoff, E. (2001). The development of syntax and morphology: Learning the structure of language. In E. Hoff (Ed.), Language development (2nd ed., pp. 201–257). Stamford, CT: Thomson Learning.

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  • Tager-Flusberg, H., Paul, R., & Lord, C. (2005). Language and communication in autism. In D. J. Cohen & F. R. Volkmar (Eds.), Handbook of autism and pervasive developmental disorders (3rd ed., pp. 335–364). New York: Wiley.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, Lehman College/The City University of New York, 250 Bedford Park Blvd. West, 10468, Bronx, NY, USA

    Dr. Cheryl Smith Gabig (Assistant Professor)

Authors
  1. Dr. Cheryl Smith Gabig
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Correspondence to Cheryl Smith Gabig .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Psychology Yale University School of Medicine, Chief, Child Psychiatry Children's Hospital at Yale-New Haven Child Study Center, New Haven, CT, USA

    Fred R. Volkmar (Director, Child Study Center) (Director, Child Study Center)

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Gabig, C.S. (2013). Telegraphic Speech. In: Volkmar, F.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1698-3_1123

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1698-3_1123

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-1697-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-1698-3

  • eBook Packages: Behavioral Science

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