One of the most noticeable problems in autism involves the social use of language such as metaphor and metonymy, both of which are very common in daily language use. The present study is the first to investigate the development of metaphor and metonymy comprehension in autism. Eleven children with autism were compared to 17 typically developing children in a metaphor-metonymy comprehension task. Cross-sectional trajectory analyses were used to compare the development of metaphor and metonymy comprehension using a child-friendly story picture task. Trajectories were constructed linking task performance either to chronological age or to measures of mental age. Children with autism showed an impaired metaphor comprehension in relation to both chronological and mental age, whereas performance on metonymy was delayed and in line with their receptive vocabulary. Our results suggest that understanding of metaphors and metonyms are severely affected at all ages examined in the current study.

The impersonalizing role passive voice plays in scientific discourse is well known. Analysis of the Methods sections of nine medical research articles shows that metonymy is another frequent strategy used to create anonymous authors/agents. Discourse agents were categorized into four semantic domains: familial lay, nonfamilial lay, authorial professional, and nonauthorial professional. Agents were investigated in relation to impersonalization and social identity. Results show that although possessive/causative metonyms produce generic participants and reduce most rival researchers to “previous studies,” significant health professionals are often referred to in terms of representational/locative metonyms, highlighting their authoritative social identities. Additionally, authors are either highly visible or, if they choose to disguise themselves, they do so quite drastically using impersonalization devices or agentless passives. In contrast, for other researchers and health professionals, co-occurrence of metonymy and passive voice is generally avoided; nevertheless, these agents are usually more hidden than are the present authors.

Vaccines offer the most cost-effective approach to controlling infectious diseases. Access to vaccines remains unequal and suboptimal, particularly in poorer developing countries. Introduction of new vaccines and long-term sustainability of immunization programs will require proactive planning from conception to implementation. International and national coordination efforts as well as local and cultural factors need to be known and accounted for. Adequate infrastructure should be in place for the monitoring of disease burden, vaccine effectiveness and vaccine safety, based on the common terminology and international consensus. This overview paper aims to raise awareness of the importance of introduction efforts for vaccines of special relevance to resource-poor countries. The target audiences are those involved in immunization programs, from planning or oversight roles to frontline providers, as well as health care professionals.