OtherAutism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research2025

An Autistic "Linguatype"? Neologisms, New Words, and New Insights.

Emily Zane, Rhiannon J Luyster

PMID 40583843

WHAT IT FOUND

This essay argues that creating new words (neologisms) in autistic people may be a shared language style rather than a deficit.

It offers a theoretical framework and examples but reports no clinical results or evidence of treatment effects.

What this paper is

This is a theoretical essay proposing that neologisms in autistic speakers reflect a distinct 'linguatype' rather than a disorder. It reviews existing literature and shares a collection of examples to generate ideas, but it does not report methods, results, or outcomes from a clinical trial or observational study. There is no evidence here to change clinical practice or guide intervention.

Declared interests

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The work was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

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The study

Certainty of evidence
Low

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    Emily Zane, Rhiannon J Luyster An Autistic "Linguatype"? Neologisms, New Words, and New Insights. Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research. 2025.

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