Many languages have words that can have multiple meanings. Take the word “mouse” in English, for example; when presented with the word by itself, some native speakers may think of the animal, and some may think of the one that navigates the computer. Many languages have words like this, where the context can produce a different meaning of the word. This example is simply two different definitions of that word. In a literal sense, the word has two separate meanings, and it is traditionally clear which definition it is based on the context. In contrast, other words can offer multiple meanings, not necessarily due to the content, but due to the way it is said. As an example, after someone says a sentence, someone could respond with “seriously”. Without actually hearing it, or reading the punctuation, it is not obvious what the reply “seriously” means. It could either be said as a form of agreeing with the previous statement, such as “I also can’t believe it!”, or it could be a way of asking if the previous statement was true, such as replying with, “seriously?”

Language can offer multiple meanings simply by the tone of our voice or the context surrounding the words. In both instances, tone differences and context/phrase differences, can make a difference in our ability to comprehend non-literal phrases. These types of phrases are ones that may come as second nature to some people, but other people may struggle with them.

People who have autism typically have trouble understanding non-literal phrases. Non-literal phrases can include metaphors, understatements, rhetorical questions, hyperboles, and verbal irony, (Persicke, Tarbox, Ranick, & St. Clair, 2013). All of these phrases can mean one thing when reading them word-for-word, but can mean another when you are aware of what the speaker is referring to.

When dealing with non-literal phrases, people have several mental processes they need to go through before their mind decides whether it’s literal or not. The mind must first understand the words that are in the sentence. Then they must use the understandings of these words and put them into the sentence; this sentence will be played in their head both literally and non-literally. From these two different sentences, they must use other clues or outside elements that weren’t a part of the sentence itself, such as context, emotion, and tone, to help them decide whether the speaker intended to say it literally or non-literally (Chouinard & Cummine, 2016).

Tone is one of these aspects that people take into consideration when determining if something is literal or not. One example of common language that includes the use of different tones is sarcasm. Sarcasm is a form of verbal irony, which is one of the areas that people with autism struggle with (Persicke et al., 2013). According to Meriam-Webster Dictionary, sarcasm is, “a mode of satirical wit depending for its effect on bitter, caustic, and often ironic language that is usually directed against an individual,” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sarcasm). Unlike definitions and vocabulary words, learning to read sarcasm in a language is not something taught in school. Because of this, not everyone can naturally comprehend sarcasm. For the average person, the ability to start grasping this concept can begin at the age of five or six (Persicke et al., 2013).

The use of sarcasm includes different tones than what would be used in a literal sentence. Studies have concluded that understanding and differentiating tones can be where autistic people struggle. In a study conducted by Brooks and Ploog (2013), they found that control group, made up of typically developing children, did not differ when recognizing the different tones. The aspect that autistic children differed in was the meaning and their preference of the tone of voice. Autistic children showed no preference in the two different tones, where the other group favored the sentences that had a positive and happy tone to their voice (Brooks & Ploog, 2013). From these findings, the researchers were able to make conclusions based on their preference. For the group that favored the positivity, they understood and favored it because they could understand it emotionally. The autistic group wasn’t able to grasp the sentence on that level, and therefore had no emotional feelings towards either type of sentence. In another study, they found that, in comparison to the control group, the autistic group was better at memorizing the tones of music, (Yu et al., 2015).  In this study, they found out that this did not apply to speech, and only applies to sound that did not involve any speech.

Since sarcasm is a form of non-literal speech, it takes multiple mental processes. Our brain first has to comprehend what the person is saying, and then convert what that person means by their tone (Persicke et al., 2013).  This type of process is thought to be believed to be teachable to people who struggle with this, such as people who have autism. Even though this understanding isn’t something that automatically starts developing, it is something they are capable of. In a study conducted by Persicke and colleagues (2013), they were able to teach autistic children and adolescents to understand and respond to sarcastic comments through operant conditioning. Sentences like these can make sense grammatically, just not in the context that they’re presented in. Given that these sentences sound like real sentences, it appears to be that autistic individuals don’t question whether it’s literal or not and just assume that it is literal. They are skipping the second process of interpreting non-literal phrases, and this is most likely because they don’t question the tone that the sentence was said in. If they took tone into consideration, they may not always assume it is literal.

Another element of non-literal speech that people with autism struggle with is figurative language. Some studies have revealed that people with high functioning autism performed the same in figurative language as the controls, and some studies revealed that they underscored. In the studies where they performed equally, the autistic group did take a longer time to come to a conclusion (Chouinard & Cummine, 2016). This shows that even when the two groups performed equally, the autistic group still struggled more and took them a longer time, and more mental processes, to come to the same conclusion as the other group. The different results across studies may be due to the broadness of figurative language, meaning that people with autism may not struggle with all metaphors.

While people with autism do struggle with figurative language, it is not all types of figurative language that they struggle with. There are endless forms of figurative language. It can be the use of a metaphor, where it may be clear that it’s not literal (because the actions in the sentence may not be possible when taken literally). It can also be common figures of speech, and with these it may not be as clear that it’s non-literal unless you are aware that it’s a common phrase. People with autism seem to only struggle once it hits these more common, less literal phrases (Kasirer & Mashal, 2016). Once it hits one of these types of metaphors, they resort to taking the sentence more literally. In a study conducted by Kasirer and Mashal (2016), they tested commonly used and new metaphors to children with autism and children who were classified as typically developing. Both groups did not vary in their ability to comprehend newer metaphors. Typically developing children did, however, perform better in metaphors that are used often (Kasirer & Mashal, 2016). While this may be because of their struggle with figurative language, it could also be because they may not have heard or they are not used to hearing so many common phrases. These common phrases are those heard often in social situations, ones that autistic people may not always be involved in, thus not being well-versed in these phrases.

In conclusion, people with autism struggle with non-literal language. Determining literal from non-literal includes using outside clues in order to make this choice. Certain tones and contexts can provoke people to question whether what they’re hearing is being said literally or non-literally. People with autism often miss out on these clues, and don’t even question if it’s literal, causing them to take the entire message literally. Non-literal language such as sarcasm and figurative speech are used in daily speech, but it is something that people with autism seem to not be understanding. Since it has been shown that this can be taught, it’s important for people to be aware that people with autism struggle with this ability, instead of dismissing it as them lacking social skills. An increase in awareness may cause this to be taught more, and at a younger age, which may help people with autism not feel so distanced in social situations.

References

Brooks, P. J., & Ploog, B. O. (2013). Attention to emotional tone of voice in speech perception in children with autism. Research In Autism Spectrum Disorders, 7(7), 845-857. doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2013.03.003

Chouinard, B., & Cummine, J. (2016). All the world’s a stage: Evaluation of two stages of metaphor comprehension in people with autism spectrum disorder. Research In Autism Spectrum Disorders, 23107-121. doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2015.12.008

Kasirer, A., & Mashal, N. (2016). Comprehension and generation of metaphors by children with autism spectrum disorder. Research In Autism Spectrum Disorders, 3253-63. doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2016.08.003

Persicke, A., Tarbox, J., Ranick, J., & St. Clair, M. (2013). Teaching children with autism to detect and respond to sarcasm. Research In Autism Spectrum Disorders, 7(1), 193-198. doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2012.08.005

Sarcasm. (n.d.). Retrieved November 23, 2017, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sarcasm

Yu, L., Fan, Y., Deng, Z., Huang, D., Wang, S., & Zhang, Y. (2015). Pitch processing in tonal-language-speaking children with autism: An event-related potential study. Journal Of Autism And Developmental Disorders, 45(11), 3656-3667. doi:10.1007/s10803-015-2510-x