A Grammar of Autistic Language Use

In her essay, A Grammar of Autistic Language Use - The Gestalt Construction Grammar Approach, Pia Hämäläinen, an autistic theorist, suggests that the classification of language learning routes and language use as analytic and Gestalt one proposed by Prizant, could serve as a basis for applying construction grammar to autism. As the traditional view of construction grammar seems to be an analytic one, Hämäläinen proposes a Gestalt view of construction grammar, Gestalt construction grammar, to depict autistic language use in a positive light. Hämäläinen further proposes that applying linguistic theory like discourse analysis and stylistics, might also clarify language use in autism.

Pia Hämäläinen (b. 1966), BA, is an autistic theorist who both applies theory to autism and constructs new theory. Her special interests include communication theory, process philosophy, autism theory, systems/ complexity theory, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and Christian theology, especially process theology. She has translated books, written poetry and autism theory both in Finnish and in English. The English publications include The Shape of Autism (Durig and Hämäläinen), Autism in Code. Extrapolating from Theory and Experience (Hämäläinen), An Autism Upgrade. On Patterns and Processes (Hämäläinen), Elaborating on the Double Empathy Problem - An Essay on the Compatibility of Neurotypicality and Autism (Hämäläinen), Reading Signs and Solving Puzzles - On Communication in Autism (Hämäläinen), and The Cockpit Analogy for the Neurodiversity Spectrum (Hämäläinen). Hämäläinen also made a contribution to Paula Moraine's book on autism and Executive Function entitled Autism and Everyday Executive Function.