Indirect speech act

A linguistic utterance whose intended meaning differs from its literal meaning, commonly used in neurotypical communication for politeness or social convention. For example, "Can you pass the salt?" is literally a question about ability but is conventionally understood as a request. Indirect speech acts pose particular challenges in cross-neurotype communication because autistic individuals who process language literally may interpret the utterance at face value. Understanding indirect speech acts is relevant to accessible communication design — clear, direct language that states intent explicitly is more universally accessible than relying on listeners to infer implied meanings.