This chapter explores the unique relationship between music and individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It highlights the remarkable musical abilities often found in people with autism, contrasting with their challenges in social interaction and communication. Research shows that music can serve as a bridge, facilitating social interaction and emotional expression for those on the spectrum. Brain imaging studies reveal how brain regions typically associated with language processing are activated in autistic individuals when they engage with music. This suggests that music may offer an alternative pathway for communication and emotional understanding. The chapter also discusses the therapeutic applications of music for individuals with autism, such as auditory-motor mapping training (AMMT), which has shown promise in improving verbal communication and social skills. Music therapy can also foster emotional expression, social connection, and a sense of belonging. The chapter concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding and embracing the individual’s musical preferences and strengths in order to support their development and well-being.

In this chapter we address the question of whether or not language acquisition is largely implicit in nature. After reviewing key constructs (e.g., explicit and implicit knowledge, explicit and implicit processing/learning, intentional and unintentional learning), we discuss the major positions currently under scrutiny in the field: (1) Explicit learning is necessary; (2) explicit learning is beneficial; (3) explicit learning does little to nothing (i.e., acquisition is largely if not exclusively implicit in nature). A key issue in this chapter is how one defines “language” and how one construes “input processing.” We will review how definitions of these constructs color the researcher’s perspective on the issues.

This chapter offers an overview of the essentials of the cognitive-functional view adopted in the book, and situates the approach in the wider field of language studies, notably relative to the cognitive linguistic and functional linguistic traditions. It also introduces the general theoretical issues of concern in the book: it highlights the importance in language research of an active concern with conceptualization, and of assuming a dynamic relationship between conceptual and linguistic structures and processes (i.e. between meaning and form), and it points out the different practices in this regards in the strands of cognitive and functional linguistics. Finally, it presents the rudiments of a model called Functional Procedural Grammar, which serves as guide and blackboard throughout the book, and which is elaborated further in the course of it.

This chapter returns to the theoretical concerns of the study, and to the principles at the heart of a cognitive-functional approach to modeling the cognitive processes in language use. Central are the basic principles of depth and dynamism, and the three issues emerging from them when comparing cognitive and traditional functionalist approaches in current linguistics: the (non)concern with conceptualization in linguistic analysis, the processual vs. representationalist concept of grammar, and the complex meaning-form relationship. The chapter rounds up and reflects on what the analyses of the attitudinal and other semantic and functional dimensions in the preceding chapters have shown with relevance to these principles and issues. Moreover, it uses these insights to dwell on wider implications, beyond the analysis of the qualificational dimensions, for our understanding of the cognitive systems involved in language use.

Information processing is a process of uncertainty resolution. Information-theoretic constructs such as surprisal and entropy reflect the fine-grained probabilistic knowledge which people have accumulated over time. The information-theoretic constructs explain the extent of processing difficulty that people encounter, for example when comprehending language. Processing difficulty and cognitive effort in turn are a direct reflection of predictability.

Chapter 5 explores the impact of dyslexia on effective language processing. It explains some of the literacy processes that are assessed during a dyslexia diagnosis, as outlined in chapter 2. Such an understanding has been indicated as useful by many of the adult dyslexic contributors to this book. Greater awareness of the complexity of reading/writing has decreased their frustration, as well as improved their literacy skills and confidence. Therefore, the chapter will focus on developing an understanding of the processes and strategies that support improving literacy skills at the word and text level, and which can further development basic language skills involved in processing sounds and meaning/vocabulary. The chapter provides a range of suggestions, tasks/activities and strategies to improve these underlying reading and language processes. The chapter also covers how to work with text and strategies for improved comprehension as this is the focus of reading for adults, and which may be a particular area of difficulty for many if reading at speed is emphasised. The chapter ends with exploring some the technological solutions that can support reading and writing.

This chapter brings together the findings from the three studies, which confirmed that Differential Object Marking (DOM) is a vulnerable grammatical area not only in Spanish, but also in Hindi and Romanian as heritage languages, subject to erosion under pressure from, English in this case. This chapter goes deeper into these overall trends, by comparing the three heritage speaker groups, on the one hand, and the three first-generation immigrant groups, on the other, on several background variables related to patterns of language use. A follow-up replication study with Spanish heritage speakers and immigrants from other countries in Latin America is reported, which confirm the attrition effects in the two generations of Mexican immigrants. It is claimed that his finding is strong evidence that while DOM omission may have started as a developmental outcome of heritage language acquisition, it may be on its way to becoming a stable dialectal feature of Spanish in the United States, suggesting language change with respect to DOM in Spanish. The roles of language internal and language external factors are discussed.

A large body of research has contributed to a complex picture in which bilingualism is generally associated with better performance on some cognitive tasks, particularly those that are based on executive functioning, but poorer performance on measures of verbal proficiency. However, not all studies find these effects, particularly the positive effects on cognitive function. What is now clear is that the potential impact of bilingualism on children’s cognition must be explained through multifaceted examinations of relevant factors and clarification of the specific language context from which the results emerged on an individual basis. We review the evidence for cognitive performance of children in multilingual environments and evaluate those results in terms of the type of cognitive ability being assessed and the type of environment children are experiencing. We also review how early the effects of multilingualism are detected, how long these effects last, and how childhood multilingualism can lead to brain plasticity. We conclude with a brief discussion of how multilingualism impacts other areas of cognitive functioning, such as theory of mind, creativity, and problem solving.

Are the dimensions of morphological diversity dependent on the cognitive pathways for processing, storage, and learning of word structure, and if so, how? Conversely, are languages that differ in their morphological structure processed and learned in different ways? This volume examines the relationship between linguistic cognition and the morphological diversity found in the world’s languages. As the idea that domain-general cognitive processes and morphological typology are inextricably linked has moved into the mainstream of linguistics, the field has diversified conceptually and methodologically. This introduction to the volume offers an overview of conceptual issues that underpin the volume’s papers and some of the methodological trends they reflect. It thus serves as a roadmap for the papers that follow.

Chapter 7 describes the fundamental research questions, empirical approaches and findings of cognitive linguistics & psycholinguistics. This interdisciplinary linguistic subfield comprises a broad range of approaches and theories focusing on the study of language and cognition. For analysing mental representations and processes underlying language production, language comprehension, language acquisition, and non-linguistic thought, key issues of empirical research include considerations on research participants, types of data, and components of experimental research. The chapter ends with recommendations for further reading and a list of short exercises and ideas for small research projects.