Instances of person-reference, in the form of personal pronouns, names, or terms of endearment, are frequently used in child-directed speech. Examining this aspect of parental input is especially relevant to children with autism, who experience difficulties with person-reference. In this study, we compared the person-reference during parent-child interactions of Bulgarian (N=37) and English-speaking (N=37) parents of children with autism, who were matched on the language ability of their child. English-speaking parents used significantly more personal pronouns to refer to their children, while Bulgarian-speaking parents used the child’s name more along with kinship terms. Furthermore, Bulgarian-speaking parents used significantly more different ways to refer to their child. These group differences were interpreted in the context of structural differences in the pronominal systems of Bulgarian and English, and in terms of culturally different discourse practices.

以人称代词、姓名或亲昵称呼形式出现的人称实例经常用于面向儿童的演讲中。检查父母输入的这一方面与自闭症儿童尤其相关，他们在参照他人方面遇到困难。在这项研究中，我们比较了自闭症儿童的保加利亚语 (N=37) 和英语 (N=37) 父母在亲子互动中的人际关系，他们的孩子的语言能力是匹配的。说英语的父母使用明显更多的人称代词来称呼他们的孩子，而说保加利亚语的父母更多地使用孩子的名字和亲属关系术语。此外，说保加利亚语的父母使用更多不同的方式来称呼他们的孩子。