Schizophrenia Autism Language Disorder
given by interlocutor. Schank in Carrol, 2008:231 gives an example of relevant response:
A: I just bought a new hat B:
What‟s colour?
Response B is appropriate to the topic given by A. The response which asks about colour is relevant toward the object “new hat”.
c Cognitively Disruptive and Socially Inappropriate Responses
Individuals with autism can have difficulties engaging in a conversation. According to Kelley in Fein, 2011:129, some studies show that people with
autism do not respond appropriately to question even they have difficulty in giving relevant responses that provide enough information to the hearers. Thus,
when individuals with autism give responses without providing enough information, they may give disruptive and inappropriate responses to the hearers.
This is because they may replace the topic or add a new topic in the conversation. Impairment of communication is seen as one of features of autism
Bogdashina, 2005:169. It means that individuals with autism give responses that contain digressions. According to Dascal 2003:217, digression does not fit in the
conversation. It breaks the pattern that consists in each utterance. The digression considers as disruptive to conversational coherence. Thus, the cognitively
disruptive and socially inappropriate response is related to the digression in communication.
Schank in Carrol, 2008:231 categorises disruptive and inappropriate response as odd responses, more relevant but not too polite responses, and
marginally responses.
1 Odd Responses OD
As stated above, individuals with autism may experience communication impairment. They will show some digressions in giving responses to their
interlocutors. The digressions can be shown by giving odd responses. Schank in Carrol, 2008:231 says that some responses can be clearly odd. The odd responses
deal with adding a new topic in a conversation. He gives an example that shows odd responses:
Speaker: I just bought a new hat Hearer: I just bought a new car
The dialogue shows that the hearer gives the odd response. The hearer
makes a new topic that is still nearly relevant to the speaker‟s utterance. The new topic
“bought a new car” still has nearly relevant topic in the utterance “I just bought a new hat.
” After analysing the odd responses
of Schank‟s example, it has a similarity to Dascal‟s explanation about the digression especially for an utterance-based
digression type. This type is characterised by the fact that some kinds of content relation hold between the mainstream utterances and digressional ones Dascal,
2003:224. This digression shows that the new topic is still nearly relevant to the speaker‟s utterance. It means that the utterance still states an object that belongs to
the speaker‟s topic. Dascal 2003:247 gives examples: A: John knows that it is raining in Honulu
B: This reminds me of the umbrella I forgot in your car Example 1 A: preparing salad dressing please, pass the blue cheese