Examining Linguistic Flexibility and Rigidity in the Language of Neurodivergent Populations

Abstract

Linguistic differences are pervasive among many neurodivergent populations. Autistic individuals, for example, commonly engage with and use language rigidly, as is exemplified by their echolalia, pronoun reversals, and reliance on fixed phrases. Some of their linguistic differences may be explained by the fact that much of language use and comprehension necessitate flexibility–namely, generalizing learned forms and functions by extending them to new contexts. The Flexible Language and Meaning Extension (FLAME) hypothesis, developed in the Princeton Psychology of Language Lab, postulates that autistic individuals exhibit language differences due to the challenges they experience with linguistic tasks that necessitate FLAME as compared to linguistic tasks that do not require such flexibility and extension of meaning. Building on experimental research that supports this hypothesis, this thesis examines whether other neurodivergent populations, including a subpopulation of autistic people who exhibit remarkable strengths in languages, also experience challenges with FLAME. While pursuing this question, I provide a review of literature on four neurodivergent populations: autistic linguistic savants, other autistic people, people with Fragile X syndrome, and people with Down syndrome. Particular attention is paid to the rigid versus flexible aspects of each group’s language. In addition to synthesizing the literature in this area, evidence is provided that all four of these populations exhibit linguistic rigidity and possible challenges with flexible language use. Further research, however, is necessary to more thoroughly understand neurodivergent language, particularly whether language differences are generally due to difficulties with FLAME. Keywords: language, linguistic flexibility, linguistic rigidity, neurodivergence