Abstract
ObjectiveWe examined on-line auditory idiom comprehension in typically developing (TD) children, children with specific language impairment (SLI), and children with autism. Theories of idiom processing in adults agree on a reliance on lexical/semantic memory for these forms, but differ in their specifics. The Lexical Representation hypothesis claims that literal and non-literal meanings are activated in parallel. The Configuration hypothesis claims that a non-literal meaning will take precedence, such that a literal meaning may not be activated at all.MethodChildren aged 6–16 years listened to sentences containing idioms for a cross-modal priming task. The idioms were ambiguous between an idiomatic and a literal meaning. We looked at priming for both meanings at the offset of the idiom.ResultsTD children (n=14) and children with SLI (n=7) primed for the idiomatic but not literal meaning of the idiom. Children with autism (n=5) instead primed for the literal but not idiomatic meaning.ConclusionsTD children showed an adult-like pattern, consistent with predictions of the Configuration Hypothesis. Children with SLI showed the typical pattern, whereas the atypical pattern observed for children with autism may reflect a particular deficit with complex material in semantic memory.
Highlights
Figurative language, including sarcasm, irony, and the use of idiomatic expressions, is pervasive in everyday speech, such that successful language comprehension requires facilityWalenski and Love with these forms of non-literal expression
Children with specific language impairment (SLI) showed the typical pattern, whereas the atypical pattern observed for children with autism may reflect a particular deficit with complex material in semantic memory
In the current paper we focus on the processing of sentences containing idioms; multi-word phrases with meanings that generally can’t be predicted by the meanings of the individual words in the phrase [1]
Summary
Figurative language, including sarcasm, irony, and the use of idiomatic expressions, is pervasive in everyday speech, such that successful language comprehension requires facilityWalenski and Love with these forms of non-literal expression. For an idiom like spill the beans, the meaning of /beans/and the idiomatic meaning / reveal secrets/should both be active as the word beans is processed. A key difference between these hypotheses is that according to the Configuration Hypothesis, predictably configured idioms won’t activate the literal meanings of the constituent words, and may inhibit them [5,6]. On this view, only a meaning related to revealing secrets should be accessed during comprehension of spill the beans, not a meaning related to beans as a food item
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