This study examined the linguistic characteristics of high functioning individuals with autism and Asperger syndrome. Each group consisted of 10 participants who were matched on sex, chronological age, and intelligence scores. Participants generated a narrative after watching a brief video segment of the Social Attribution Task video. Each participant was then asked 10 questions related to the stimulus video. The narrative samples and responses to the questions were analysed linguistically. Individuals with high functioning autism and Asperger syndrome performed similarly on most measures of language function; however, results suggest there may be pragmatically-based differences between the groups in the use of verb tense markers. (Contains 3 tables.)