The University of Hong Kong. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention San Diego November Contact:

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1 Carol K. S. TO 1, Estella WOO 2, Pamela, S. P. CHEUNG 2, Lorinda LAM 2, Annie SHEH 2, Anita WONG 1, Xin Xin LI 1, & Ming LUI 1 1 The University of Hong Kong 2 HKSAR Government Child Assessment Service American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention San Diego November 2011 Contact: tokitsum@hku.hk 1

2 Figurative languages are languages that always mean one thing literally but are taken to mean something different. Examples: metaphor, irony, lie, white lie, persuasion, idioms, etc 2

3 Intention Lie White lie Irony Metaphor Persuasion To have personal gain To avoid punishment or embarrassment To divert mistake -To protect someone s feeling -To critically comment on others -To amuse others -To show superiority (Sweetser, 1988) -To assist expression or understanding -To direct people to certain decision or idea 3

4 Competency of metaphorical or ironic language emerged at about 8 years old (Winners, 1988) Knowledge about lies and also white lies emerges as young as 3;0 and develop rapidly (Talwar, Lee, Bala, & Lindsay, 2002; Talwar and Lee, 2002) Development of figurative language continues afterwards (Nippold & Taylor, 1995) 4

5 Late development may be due to requirement of higher cognitive functioning, theory of mind (ToM) skills. Difficulties in comprehending figurative languages in ASD children may attribute to deficit of central coherence in addition to the lack of ToM (Happé, 1994). Little attention has been put in a wider variety of figurative forms. The relative difficulty of figurative languages is not yet clear. 5

6 To compare the relative difficulty in understanding five types of figurative languages, namely, lie, white lie, persuasion, metaphor, and Irony. 6

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8 A total of 187 Cantonese-speaking children recruited from mainstream schools with no reported SEN Age group mean age (SD) Grade Female Male Total 6;0 5.9 (0.4) Kindergarten (K3) 7;0 7.0 (0.3) Primary 1 (P1) ;0 8.0 (0.3) Primary 2 (P2) ;0 9.2 (0.4) Primary 3 (P3)

9 14 vignettes, two for each type of FL were constructed according to the Strange Stories developed by Happé (1994). Each vignettes was embedded with a remark encoding one type of figurative language. E.g.: Lie: David borrowed a pencil from Sam. David accidentally broke it. When David returned the pencil to Sam, he said, The pencil was broken already when you lent it to me. 9

10 After each vignette, 2 questions : 1. Comprehension question 2. Justification question Metaphor: When Mum is preparing the dinner, Dad said, I can eat three dinosaurs! 1. Comprehension question: Is it true what the Dad says? 2. Justification question: Why does the Dad say this? 10

11 Coding for Justification Questions Credits will be given if: the explanation mentioned about the correct intention, and the responses are of mentalistic in nature (e.g. referring to thoughts, feeling, and desire). Physical state explanation (e.g. appearance, or consequence of the event) will be not credited. 11

12 Coding Example 1 Persuasion: Joe really wants to go the Ocean Park. He said to his mum, Mum, if you go to the Ocean Park with me this weekend, I will get 100 marks in all of my examinations. Justification question: Why does Joe say this? Joe wants to convenience his mum to bring him to the Ocean park (mental state) Joe wants to go to the Ocean Park (physical state) Joe will go when he becomes a smart boy (not relevant) 12

13 Coding Example 2 White lie: Sally spent a whole day to make a chocolate cake for her uncle. She doesn t know that her Uncle dislikes chocolate flavor. When she gives the cake to the uncle, he says, It must taste very good. I really want to eat it now! Justification question: Why does the uncle say this? The uncle doesn t want to upset Sally/ doesn t want to hurt Sally s feeling (mental state) The uncle doesn t want to waste the cake (physical state) The uncle thought that it s a strawberry cake (mistaken) 13

14 Coding Example 3 Irony: John got a present from his dad. Without saying a word, John went back to his room. The dad said, You are so courteous! Justification question: Why does the dad say this? The dad is being ironic (mental state) The dad wants John to say thank you (physical state) The dad doesn t want John to be upset (incorrect intention) The dad didn t listen carefully and missed that (mistaken) 14

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16 Comprehension Question More than 96% of the children correctly responded to the comprehension question. 16

17 Lie White lie 6;0 7;0 8;0 9;0 6;0 7;0 8;0 9;0 17

18 Persuasion Persuasion Irony 6;0 7;0 8;0 9;0 6;0 7;0 8;0 9;0 18

19 Metaphor 6;0 7;0 8;0 9;0 19

20 6;0 7;0 8;0 9;0 20

21 Relative Difficulty Descriptive statistics: lie >white lie>persuasion >irony >/~ metaphor 21

22 ANOVA trend analysis ANOVA with trend analysis shows that there was a difference among the group means, F(4, 492) =32.46, p<.001, MSe = There was a linear trend to the data, F(1,123) = , p<.001, MSe =

23 Qualitatively, children s responses were further analyzed according to the type of figurative language encoded. Collapsing all age groups 23

24 Realization Lie White lie Target Persuasion Irony Metaphor Lie 82% 12% 8.5% 13% 13% White Lie - 45% 0.5% 32% - Persuasion % - - Irony % - Metaphor % Physical 10% 23% 47% 5.5% 30% Mistaken 1.5% 11% 3.0% 12% 12% NR - 5.5% 9.0% 11% 6% Irrelevant 5.0% 2.0% 5.5% 10% 22% Others 1.5% 1.5% 0.5% 4.5% 10% 24

25 Discussion Small number of young children commented that the speaker was saying something true. They explained that the speaker made a mistake 25

26 Mistaken interpretation: Children only compared the remark and the contextual information from the vignette without considering anyone s belief. The hearer believes that the uncle will not eat the cake. It must taste very good. I really want to eat it now! 26

27 Lying Interpretation: Children attribute a false-belief to the (character) speaker. The hear believes that The speaker believes that The pencil was not broken initially. The pencil was broken already when you lent it to me. 27

28 Persuasion interpretation: children not only represent the beliefs of the speaker, but also the beliefs of the speaker about the beliefs of the hearer. The hearer believes that The speaker believes that The hearer believes that Joe will not get 100 marks in all the exams. I will get 100 marks in all the exams. 28

29 Irony interpretation: Children have to represent the speaker s belief about the hearer s belief on the speakers belief. The hearer believes that The speaker believes that The hearer believes that The speaker believes that John is rude. You are so courteous!! 29

30 Interpretation of white lies requires similar level of representation as lies but children should have pro-social consideration in the white lies. 30

31 Interpretation of metaphor may involve anther dimension of processing: drawing the relationship between the target referent and the description. Metaphor: When Mum is preparing the dinner, Dad said, I can eat three dinosaurs! Appetite Size of the dinosaurs 31

32 Relative difficulty Lie White lie Persuasion Irony ~ Metaphor

33 Future directions This sequence provides a basis for evaluating individuals with ASD who may show various levels of difficulty in representing people s belief and sociocognitive skills. 33

34 Selected references Curcó, C. (2007). Irony: Negation, echo, and metarepresentation. In R. W. Gibbs & H. L. Colston, (Eds.). Irony in language and thought: A cognitive sciences reader. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Happé, F. G. E. (1994). An advance test of theory of mind: Understanding of story characters thoughts and feelings by able autistic, mentally handicapped, and normal children and adults. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 24,

35 Acknowledgments We are thankful to all the schools and children who participated in our project. The study was supported by the General Research Fund 2009, Hong Kong Research Grant Council.