Clinical linguistic diversity extends far beyond ‘specific language’ disorders, such as acquired aphasia or specific language impairment (SLI), to a large range of mental disorders that are not language-specific. As cognitive impairments are involved in the latter, models with an integrated approach to language and cognition can be useful for understanding and classifying the variation in question. The aim of this paper is to specify such a model, called the Bridge model, which views linguistic cognition as resting on two partially pre-linguistic pillars: (i) perceptual categorisation and (ii) social-communicative interaction. Grammar acting as a bridge crossing between them mediates the lexicalisation of perceptual categories and, based on these, new forms of social interaction and communication conveying thought structured by grammar. This model allows to conceptualise mental disorders as different ways in which this integrated linguistic-cognitive phenotype can deviate from its normal course. We illustrate our general model for the specific instance of language variation within autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

临床语言多样性远远超出了“特定语言”障碍，例如获得性失语症或特定语言障碍 (SLI)，还包括大量非特定语言的精神障碍。由于后者涉及认知障碍，因此具有语言和认知综合方法的模型可用于理解和分类所讨论的变化。本文的目的是指定这样一个模型，称为桥模型，该模型将语言认知视为依赖于两个部分前语言学支柱：（i）感知分类和（ii）社会交流互动。语法作为它们之间的桥梁，介导了感知类别的词汇化，并在此基础上形成了新形式的社会互动和交流，传达了由语法构成的思想。该模型允许将精神障碍概念化为这种综合语言认知表型偏离其正常过程的不同方式。我们说明了我们针对自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 中语言变异的特定实例的一般模型。