Proposals appropriate for submission to this topic area focus on aspects of language comprehension and expression in written, signed, and spoken modalities, and speech production and perception, by people without communication disorders. Proposals related to speech and language science should focus primarily on: Foundational scholarship related to communication across the lifespan, across languages, and across cultures, including aspects of language production and comprehension across different modalities (including speaking, signing, and writing); measurement of speech production, perception, or both in individuals without speech, hearing, or language disorders; and measurement of language comprehension and expression in individuals without disorders of cognition, neurological function, or hearing. Interprofessional education, practice, and/or research that addresses the implementation of interprofessional competencies within curricular or practice models or the evaluation of collaborative care outcomes specific to speech and language sciences should also be included in this topic area. Cross-linguistic research, and research on speech and language varieties used by minoritized and marginalized populations, are especially welcome.

Research

• Investigation of foundational scholarship (i.e., scholarship that supports the development of applied work in assessment and treatment) of communication science across modalities, including sign, writing, and speaking
• Translational, applied, or implementation research related to speech and language science
• Computer-based and other research technologies for understanding language (including spoken language, signed language, and written language), speech, and the cognitive-linguistic skills, cognitive skills, and sociocultural knowledge that support language and speech
• Interprofessional issues and research in language and speech science
• Interface of sensorimotor and cognitive processes in speech and language
• Theoretical models of spoken language development and use across the lifespan

Professional Education

• Acoustics and psychophysics
• Speech perception
• Psycholinguistics of language in school-age children and adolescents
• Cognitive foundations of later language development
• Language, metalinguistic and/or cognitive development of school-age children and adolescents
• Neural plasticity related to speech, language, and cognition
• Speech/language processes in those without identified speech, language, hearing, or cognitive impairments: spoken and written language
• Speech motor control by individuals without identified speech, language, hearing, or cognitive impairments
• Second language learning and use in adults and children: speech, language and hearing implications
• Sociocultural influences on speech and language production and comprehension, including sociolinguistic variation, and the influence of social identification and social evaluation on language production and comprehension
• Theoretical models of language development and use across the lifespan
• Models of speech development through the lifespan in individuals without identified speech, language, hearing, or cognitive impairments (i.e., acquisition and age-related changes through senescence)
• Neuroscientific advances with implications for understanding disorders of speech and language
• Neural correlates of typical production and perception (e.g., speech motor control)
• Instrumentation for analysis of speech including articulation, neural imaging, respiration, modeling
• Theories and models of speech production and perception, including animal models
• Relationship between speech perception and speech production
• Genetic basis of typical speech production and perception
• Cross-linguistic factors in speech production and perception
• Educational, professional, and interprofessional issues specific to speech and language science
• Ethics and technology as they relate to speech and language science

Related Topics

Proposals related to speech and language science but primarily focused on:

• Techniques in neurogenic language disorders should be submitted to the Acquired Language Disorders in Adults or the Acquired Cognitive Communication Disorders topic areas.
• Speech perception related to hearing or hearing loss should be submitted to the Hearing, Tinnitus, and Vestibular Science topic area.
• Sociocultural, linguistic, and sociopolitical factors associated with accent modification should be submitted to the Equity, Inclusion, and Cultural-Linguistic Diversity topic area.