Although language is not included in the diagnosis of autism (DSM–5, APA 2013), pragmatic language difficulties are dominant among children with autism who achieve functional speech. In this talk, I will present findings that show dissociation between pragmatic language impairment vs. intact language capacities, supporting domain specific accounts for language disorders. In addition, I will present language-universal vs. language-specific impairment within the domain of pragmatics. The discussion will focus on the implications of these findings for linguistic theory.
