Atypical Regional Accent in Autistic Children: A Perception Study.

Researchers found that autistic children in Italy don't develop the local accent of their region like other children do. Instead, their speech sounds more like the standard Italian used in cartoons and TV shows. This suggests autistic children might learn speech patterns more from screens than from talking with family and friends around them.

This Italian perception study examined regional accent patterns in autistic children from the Campania region, where the local Italian variety differs markedly from standard Italian. Two perception studies using audio recordings found that autistic children's speech lacked regional accent features typical of their community and instead resembled the standard variety used in cartoons and children's television programs. Listener judgments about accent patterns were independent of overall speech atypicality perceptions. The findings suggest that autistic children's accent development may be more influenced by non-interactive screen media sources than by direct social interaction with caregivers and peers in their linguistic community.

May inform speech therapy approaches by considering screen media influence on accent development. Could guide assessment of regional accent acquisition in autistic children and inform family counseling about media exposure effects on speech patterns.

Sample size not reported. Study limited to one Italian region. Unclear methodology details. No information about participant characteristics, control variables, or statistical analyses provided in abstract.

Autistic children are frequently said to speak with accents that markedly differ from those of their linguistic communities. To date, these anecdotal reports have never been tested or explained. We ran two perception studies using short audio recordings of autistic and typically developing children from the Campania region in Italy. The variety of Italian to which children are exposed in this region markedly differs from those spoken in the rest of Italy.

Participant responses about the children's geographical origin show: (a) That autistic children's accent is devoid of the regional features of their community; (b) resembles the standard variety used in cartoons and child television programs. The judgments about children's accents are, furthermore, independent of the overall perception of speech atypicality. This paper shows that the accent of autistic children may diverge from that of their caregivers and peers because of the lasting influence of non-interactional, screen sources on their speech.