Role of intonation and sentence final particles in comprehension of irony in typically developing children and children with ASD

Abstract

This paper investigates the role of intonation cue and SFPs in the comprehension of verbal irony in Cantonese-speaking children with ASD and their typically developing (TD) peers. Thirteen children with ASD (8;3-12;9) were language-matched with 13 TD peers. By manipulating the two variables, 16 vignettes embedded with potentially ironic criticisms were constructed. The participants were asked to judge the belief and intention of the characters in the vignettes with reference to the remarks. Both groups performed similarly well in the judgement of the speaker’s belief. For the speaker’s intent, the clinical group performed significantly poorer and did not rely on either cue, whereas the control group depended more on SFPs than supra-segmental intonation cues. The differential patterns between the two groups were discussed in light of the literature on the theory of mind ability as well as the typological features of Cantonese.