Observations on the prosodic characteristics of Finnish-speaking youngsters with Asperger syndrome

This paper presents some preliminary results of a post doctoral research project directed towards the prosodic and nonverbal deficiencies of Frenchand Finnishspeaking youngsters with Asperger Syndrome. More precisely, the paper is focussed on the salient prosodic features that characterise the speech of the Finnishspeaking informants of the project. The term ‘prosody’ is conceived here in a large sense, encompassing also such paralinguistic features as breathiness, creak, nasalization and whisper (Couper-Kuhlen 2000). The data consists of audiovisual recordings of two neuropsychiatric group therapy sessions where two different groups of 11–13-year-old boys discuss with two therapists and with each other. Methodologically, the study is based on Conversation Analysis and, more precisely, on the interactional approach to the study of prosody.