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Few works have addressed the processing of indirect requests in High-Functioning Autism (HFA), and results are conflicting. Some studies report HFA individuals’ difficulties in indirect requests comprehension; others suggest that it might be preserved in HFA. Furthermore, the role of Theory of Mind in understanding indirect requests is an open issue. The goal of this work is twofold: first, assessing whether comprehension of indirect requests for information is preserved in HFA; second, exploring whether mind-reading skills predict this ability. We tested a group of (n = 14; 9–12 years) HFA children and two groups of younger (n = 19; 5–6 years) and older (n = 28; 9–12 years) typically developing (TD) children in a semi-structured task involving direct, indirect and highly indirect requests for information. Results suggested that HFA can understand indirect and highly indirect requests, as well as TD children. Yet, while Theory of Mind skills seem to enhance older TD children understanding, this is not the case for HFA children. Therefore, interestingly, they could rely on different interpretative strategies.

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EN This paper reports on an ongoing study of Dutch native speakers learning Italian as a foreign language in a guided learning context. The study compares native and non-native realization patterns of complaints, both in terms of the type of expression of judgment and the request for reparation performed (following the classifications suggested by Nuzzo, 2007), and of the use of modifiers. Special attention is given to the potential effects of learners' language proficiency levels on the nativelikeness of their realization patterns and of the quantity and variety of modifiers they used. Methods consisted of a sociolinguistic questionnaire, a written discourse completion test, and a conditional inference trees analysis of the production of 23 learners attending a B1 level course, 19 learners attending a B2 level course, and 23 native Italian speakers. Key words: ITALIAN, DUTCH, PRAGMATICS, SPEECH ACTS, POLITENESS, MODIFIERSES El presente trabajo documenta un estudio en curso relativo a hablantes nativos de holandés que aprenden italiano como lengua extranjera en un contexto de enseñanza guiada. El estudio compara patrones de realización de quejas en habla nativa y no nativa, tanto en términos de realización de expresión de juicio como en petición de compensación (siguiendo las clasificaciones sugeridas por Nuzzo, 2007), sin olvidar el uso de modificadores. Se ha prestado especial atención a los niveles de dominio del idioma de los estudiantes y a sus potenciales efectos en la semejanza que muestran sus patrones de realización con el habla nativa, así como en la cantidad y variedad de modificadores utilizados. Los métodos consistieron en un cuestionario sociolingüístico, un test para completar el discurso y un árbol de inferencia condicional sobre la producción de veintitrés estudiantes que asisten a un curso de nivel B1, diecinueve que asisten a un curso de nivel B2 y veintitrés hablantes nativos de italiano. Palabras clave: ITALIANO, HOLANDÉS, PRAGMÁTICA, ACTOS DE HABLA, CORTESÍA, MODIFICADORESIT Questo articolo tratta di uno studio in corso su soggetti di madre lingua olandese che studiano italiano in un contesto di apprendimento guidato. Lo studio confronta la realizzazione di formule di protesta da parte di madrelingua e non, prendendo in esame sia il tipo di espressione di giudizio che il tipo di richiesta di scuse (in base alle classificazioni suggerite da Nuzzo, 2007), nonché l'uso di modificatori. Particolare attenzione è stata dedicata agli effetti potenziali del livello di padronanza linguistica degli apprendenti sui loro modelli (patterns di realizzazione) linguistici simili a quelli nativi e sulla quantità e varietà dei modificatori usati. La metodologia utilizzata è consistita in un questionario sociolinguistico, un test di completamento (DCT-written discourse completion test) e un'analisi CTree della produzione di 23 apprendenti di un corso di livello B1, 19 apprendenti di un corso di livello B2 e 23 di madrelingua italiana.

Psycholinguistic research on pragmatics in the neurotypical population has increasingly framed pragmatic competence and related cognitive skills in terms of individual differences, co-constructed discourse, and meaning negotiation. However, research on pragmatics in the Autism Spectrum has risen from a wide and biased view of autistic communication as fundamentally compromised and autistic pragmatic abilities as impaired. Mostly due to the impactful theory of a deficit in Theory of Mind, early research on autistic communication presumed a unitary pragmatic impairment, only to find that several pragmatic abilities seem to be “preserved.” However, the interpretation of these findings usually takes an ableist turn, as most studies subsequently suggest that surface-level performance should not be interpreted as competence, but rather as a result of “compensatory” strategies. The raising number of contributions from autistic academics and participatory research enriched the field with new perspectives focusing on differences rather than impairments and drawing hypotheses on communication difficulties between neurotypes rather than within a specific neurotype. However, such contributions are hardly ever cited in the most prominent works. In conclusion, the field would benefit from a higher level of citation of autistic-led research and from an epistemological perspective shift within the mostly neurotypical academic community.