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Pragmatics and Mind Reading: The Puzzle of Autism (Response to Kissine)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Diana Mazzarella  and
Ira Noveck
Diana Mazzarella*
Affiliation:
Université de Neuchâtel
Ira Noveck*
Affiliation:
CNRS—Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7
*
Mazzarella, Centre de sciences cognitives, Université de Neuchâtel, rue Pierre-à-Mazel 7, 2000 Neuchâtel, Suisse, [diana.mazzarella@unine.ch]
Noveck, Laboratoire de linguistique formelle, CNRS—Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7, 5, rue Thomas Mann, 75205 Paris, France, [ira.noveck@gmail.com]
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Abstract

Mikhail Kissine's (2021) target article examines autism in order to mine questions about language use and its cognitive underpinnings. Among these, we focus on the question concerning the role of mind reading in language interpretation. Kissine claims that the selective pragmatic profile of highly verbal autistic individuals undermines the existence of an ‘intrinsic link’ between language interpretation and mind reading. We advocate for a more cautious approach based on both theoretical and empirical arguments. Theoretically speaking, data from autism are compatible with the view that language interpretation is the result of a special-purpose form of mind reading, dedicated to the domain of intentional communication. Empirically speaking, the data are neither clear nor consistent enough for making strong claims about what exactly are the communicative challenges of highly verbal autistic individuals.

Keywords

autism spectrum disorderexperimental pragmaticsmodularitytheory of mindscalar inference

Information

Type
Perspectives
Information
Language , Volume 97 , Issue 3 , September 2021 , pp. e198 - e210
Copyright
Copyright © 2021 Linguistic Society of America

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Footnotes

*

This work was supported by an SNSF Eccellenza Grant to Diana Mazzarella (PCEGP1_186931 / 1) and a Chaire d'excellence grant from the Université de Paris to Ira Noveck (ANR-18-IDEX-0001).

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