Pub Date : 2022-09-28DOI: 10.1146/annurev-linguistics-030421-061233
T. Scott-Phillips, C. Heintz
Detailed comparative studies have revealed many surface similarities between linguistic communication and the communication of nonhumans. How should we interpret these discoveries in linguistic and cognitive perspective? We review the literature with a specific focus on analogy (similar features and function but not shared ancestry) and homology (shared ancestry). We conclude that combinatorial features of animal communication are analogous but not homologous to natural language. Homologies are found instead in cognitive capacities of attention manipulation, which are enriched in humans, making possible many distinctive forms of communication, including language use. We therefore present a new, graded taxonomy of means of attention manipulation, including a new class we call Ladyginian, which is related to but slightly broader than the more familiar class of Gricean interaction. Only in the latter do actors have the goal of revealing specifically informative intentions. Great ape interaction may be best characterized as Ladyginian but not Gricean. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Linguistics, Volume 9 is January 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
{"title":"Animal Communication in Linguistic and Cognitive Perspective","authors":"T. Scott-Phillips, C. Heintz","doi":"10.1146/annurev-linguistics-030421-061233","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-030421-061233","url":null,"abstract":"Detailed comparative studies have revealed many surface similarities between linguistic communication and the communication of nonhumans. How should we interpret these discoveries in linguistic and cognitive perspective? We review the literature with a specific focus on analogy (similar features and function but not shared ancestry) and homology (shared ancestry). We conclude that combinatorial features of animal communication are analogous but not homologous to natural language. Homologies are found instead in cognitive capacities of attention manipulation, which are enriched in humans, making possible many distinctive forms of communication, including language use. We therefore present a new, graded taxonomy of means of attention manipulation, including a new class we call Ladyginian, which is related to but slightly broader than the more familiar class of Gricean interaction. Only in the latter do actors have the goal of revealing specifically informative intentions. Great ape interaction may be best characterized as Ladyginian but not Gricean. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Linguistics, Volume 9 is January 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.","PeriodicalId":45803,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2022-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81325938","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-06DOI: 10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031120-015324
Alexandra D’Arcy, Emily M. Bender
In linguistics, ethics has long encompassed matters typically covered under regulatory oversight, but it is increasingly understood as relational and reciprocal, conferring responsibilities and obligations that extend beyond the work produced for other researchers. Those who study language are also coming to interrogate their professional responsibilities not only in how research is done but also in how research is conceived, framed, reported, discussed, and taught, as part of larger discussions around decolonization, intersectionality, and social justice. In this article, we review existing literature on ethics in linguistics, both as it relates to research and as it relates to broader practices, which we then situate within ongoing conversations across subfields. The overarching frame for our discussion is that ethical practice and scientific validity are aligned, and that dismantling dominant discourses and normative practices will serve to advance the work linguists do in meaningful ways. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Linguistics, Volume 9 is January 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
{"title":"Ethics in Linguistics","authors":"Alexandra D’Arcy, Emily M. Bender","doi":"10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031120-015324","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031120-015324","url":null,"abstract":"In linguistics, ethics has long encompassed matters typically covered under regulatory oversight, but it is increasingly understood as relational and reciprocal, conferring responsibilities and obligations that extend beyond the work produced for other researchers. Those who study language are also coming to interrogate their professional responsibilities not only in how research is done but also in how research is conceived, framed, reported, discussed, and taught, as part of larger discussions around decolonization, intersectionality, and social justice. In this article, we review existing literature on ethics in linguistics, both as it relates to research and as it relates to broader practices, which we then situate within ongoing conversations across subfields. The overarching frame for our discussion is that ethical practice and scientific validity are aligned, and that dismantling dominant discourses and normative practices will serve to advance the work linguists do in meaningful ways. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Linguistics, Volume 9 is January 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.","PeriodicalId":45803,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2022-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80071245","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-06DOI: 10.1146/annurev-linguistics-022421-070658
Erik Zyman
Classical syntactic theory was designed to permit the type of movement called raising to proceed out of infinitival, but not finite, clauses—a positive result for languages such as English. But crosslinguistic investigation reveals that many languages actually allow raising out of finite clauses (hyperraising), challenging certain commonly assumed locality constraints on movement. This article reviews three types of Minimalist analyses of hyperraising and how they address these challenges, noting the strengths and shortcomings of each. Defectiveness/nonphase analyses commendably tie a clause's ability to launch hyperraising to independent observables, but such analyses struggle to derive the former from the latter. Deactivation analyses boast empirical successes but do not straightforwardly rule out hyperraising in English. Phase-edge analyses also boast empirical successes but face empirical and/or conceptual problems (to which a solution is sketched out) and open questions about learnability. These evaluations are intended to spur syntacticians to develop stronger versions of all three types of analyses, bringing us closer to fully understanding the factors regulating movement, a subcase of the fundamental structure-building operation Merge. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Linguistics, Volume 9 is January 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
{"title":"Raising out of Finite Clauses (Hyperraising)","authors":"Erik Zyman","doi":"10.1146/annurev-linguistics-022421-070658","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-022421-070658","url":null,"abstract":"Classical syntactic theory was designed to permit the type of movement called raising to proceed out of infinitival, but not finite, clauses—a positive result for languages such as English. But crosslinguistic investigation reveals that many languages actually allow raising out of finite clauses (hyperraising), challenging certain commonly assumed locality constraints on movement. This article reviews three types of Minimalist analyses of hyperraising and how they address these challenges, noting the strengths and shortcomings of each. Defectiveness/nonphase analyses commendably tie a clause's ability to launch hyperraising to independent observables, but such analyses struggle to derive the former from the latter. Deactivation analyses boast empirical successes but do not straightforwardly rule out hyperraising in English. Phase-edge analyses also boast empirical successes but face empirical and/or conceptual problems (to which a solution is sketched out) and open questions about learnability. These evaluations are intended to spur syntacticians to develop stronger versions of all three types of analyses, bringing us closer to fully understanding the factors regulating movement, a subcase of the fundamental structure-building operation Merge. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Linguistics, Volume 9 is January 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.","PeriodicalId":45803,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2022-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79649242","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-06DOI: 10.1146/annurev-linguistics-030421-064707
G. Goodall
Linguistic research focuses primarily on the thousands of naturally occurring languages, but there are also languages that have been consciously created by individuals. There are four main types of these constructed languages. First, so-called philosophical languages were created in the seventeenth century as a way to better capture the reality of the world. Second, many international auxiliary languages were constructed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as a way to solve practical problems of international communication. Third, many languages have been created in recent decades for the purposes of fiction (e.g., novels, film, television), especially in the realms of science fiction and fantasy, or simply as an enjoyable hobby. Fourth, it is now common to construct languages for use in psycholinguistic experiments. Each of these types of constructed languages presents interesting research questions and deserves increased attention from linguists. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Linguistics, Volume 9 is January 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
{"title":"Constructed Languages","authors":"G. Goodall","doi":"10.1146/annurev-linguistics-030421-064707","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-030421-064707","url":null,"abstract":"Linguistic research focuses primarily on the thousands of naturally occurring languages, but there are also languages that have been consciously created by individuals. There are four main types of these constructed languages. First, so-called philosophical languages were created in the seventeenth century as a way to better capture the reality of the world. Second, many international auxiliary languages were constructed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as a way to solve practical problems of international communication. Third, many languages have been created in recent decades for the purposes of fiction (e.g., novels, film, television), especially in the realms of science fiction and fantasy, or simply as an enjoyable hobby. Fourth, it is now common to construct languages for use in psycholinguistic experiments. Each of these types of constructed languages presents interesting research questions and deserves increased attention from linguists. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Linguistics, Volume 9 is January 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.","PeriodicalId":45803,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2022-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87227871","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-14DOI: 10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031120-104629
Stefan Schnell, N. N. Schiborr
Corpus-based studies have become increasingly common in linguistic typology over recent years, amounting to the emergence of a new field that we call corpus-based typology. The core idea of corpus-based typology is to take languages as populations of utterances and to systematically investigate text production across languages in this sense. From a usage-based perspective, investigations of variation and preferences of use are at the core of understanding the distribution of conventionalized structures and their diachronic development across languages. Specific findings of corpus-based typological studies pertain to universals of text production, for example, in prosodic partitioning; to cognitive biases constraining diverse patterns of use, for example, in constituent order; and to correlations of diverse patterns of use with language-specific structures and conventions. We also consider remaining challenges for corpus-based typology, in particular the development of crosslinguistically more representative corpora that include spoken (or signed) texts, and its vast potential in the future.
{"title":"Crosslinguistic Corpus Studies in Linguistic Typology","authors":"Stefan Schnell, N. N. Schiborr","doi":"10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031120-104629","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031120-104629","url":null,"abstract":"Corpus-based studies have become increasingly common in linguistic typology over recent years, amounting to the emergence of a new field that we call corpus-based typology. The core idea of corpus-based typology is to take languages as populations of utterances and to systematically investigate text production across languages in this sense. From a usage-based perspective, investigations of variation and preferences of use are at the core of understanding the distribution of conventionalized structures and their diachronic development across languages. Specific findings of corpus-based typological studies pertain to universals of text production, for example, in prosodic partitioning; to cognitive biases constraining diverse patterns of use, for example, in constituent order; and to correlations of diverse patterns of use with language-specific structures and conventions. We also consider remaining challenges for corpus-based typology, in particular the development of crosslinguistically more representative corpora that include spoken (or signed) texts, and its vast potential in the future.","PeriodicalId":45803,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73286083","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-14DOI: 10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031120-124320
Shelome Gooden
Research on the prosody and intonation of creole languages has largely remained an untapped resource, yet it is important for enriching our understanding of how or if their phonological systems changed or developed under contact. Further, their hybrid histories and current linguistic ecologies present descriptive and analytical treasure troves. This has the potential to inform many areas of linguistic inquiry including contact effects on the typological classification of prosodic systems, socioprosodic variation (individual and community level), and the scope of diversity in prosodic systems among creole languages and across a variety of languages similarly influenced by language contact. Thus, this review highlights the importance of pushing beyond questions of creole language typology and genetic affiliation. I review the existing research on creole language prosody and intonation, provide some details on a few studies, and highlight some key challenges and opportunities for the subfield and for linguistics in general.
{"title":"Intonation and Prosody in Creole Languages: An Evolving Ecology","authors":"Shelome Gooden","doi":"10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031120-124320","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031120-124320","url":null,"abstract":"Research on the prosody and intonation of creole languages has largely remained an untapped resource, yet it is important for enriching our understanding of how or if their phonological systems changed or developed under contact. Further, their hybrid histories and current linguistic ecologies present descriptive and analytical treasure troves. This has the potential to inform many areas of linguistic inquiry including contact effects on the typological classification of prosodic systems, socioprosodic variation (individual and community level), and the scope of diversity in prosodic systems among creole languages and across a variety of languages similarly influenced by language contact. Thus, this review highlights the importance of pushing beyond questions of creole language typology and genetic affiliation. I review the existing research on creole language prosody and intonation, provide some details on a few studies, and highlight some key challenges and opportunities for the subfield and for linguistics in general.","PeriodicalId":45803,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78003844","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-14DOI: 10.1146/annurev-linguistics-030821-054113
H. Hopp
Second language (L2) sentence processing research studies how adult L2 learners understand sentences in real time. I review how L2 sentence processing differs from monolingual first-language (L1) processing and outline major findings and approaches. Three interacting factors appear to mandate L1–L2 differences: ( a) capacity restrictions in the ability to integrate information in an L2; ( b) L1–L2 differences in the weighting of cues, the timing of their application, and the efficiency of their retrieval; and ( c) variation in the utility functions of predictive processing. Against this backdrop, I outline a novel paradigm of interlanguage processing, which examines bilingual features of L2 processing, such as bilingual language systems, nonselective access to all grammars, and processing to learn an L2. Interlanguage processing goes beyond the traditional framing of L2 sentence processing as an incomplete form of monolingual processing and reconnects the field with current approaches to grammar acquisition and the bilingual mental lexicon.
{"title":"Second Language Sentence Processing","authors":"H. Hopp","doi":"10.1146/annurev-linguistics-030821-054113","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-030821-054113","url":null,"abstract":"Second language (L2) sentence processing research studies how adult L2 learners understand sentences in real time. I review how L2 sentence processing differs from monolingual first-language (L1) processing and outline major findings and approaches. Three interacting factors appear to mandate L1–L2 differences: ( a) capacity restrictions in the ability to integrate information in an L2; ( b) L1–L2 differences in the weighting of cues, the timing of their application, and the efficiency of their retrieval; and ( c) variation in the utility functions of predictive processing. Against this backdrop, I outline a novel paradigm of interlanguage processing, which examines bilingual features of L2 processing, such as bilingual language systems, nonselective access to all grammars, and processing to learn an L2. Interlanguage processing goes beyond the traditional framing of L2 sentence processing as an incomplete form of monolingual processing and reconnects the field with current approaches to grammar acquisition and the bilingual mental lexicon.","PeriodicalId":45803,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85094391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-14DOI: 10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031220-013128
B. Hayes
In this review, I assess a variety of constraint-based formal frameworks that can treat variable phenomena, such as well-formedness intuitions, outputs in free variation, and lexical frequency-matching. The idea behind this assessment is that data in gradient linguistics fall into natural mathematical patterns, which I call quantitative signatures. The key signatures treated here are the sigmoid curve, going from zero to one probability, and the wug-shaped curve, which combines two or more sigmoids. I argue that these signatures appear repeatedly in linguistics, and I adduce examples from phonology, syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics, phonetics, and language change. I suggest that the ability to generate these signatures is a trait that can help us choose between rival frameworks.
{"title":"Deriving the Wug-Shaped Curve: A Criterion for Assessing Formal Theories of Linguistic Variation","authors":"B. Hayes","doi":"10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031220-013128","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031220-013128","url":null,"abstract":"In this review, I assess a variety of constraint-based formal frameworks that can treat variable phenomena, such as well-formedness intuitions, outputs in free variation, and lexical frequency-matching. The idea behind this assessment is that data in gradient linguistics fall into natural mathematical patterns, which I call quantitative signatures. The key signatures treated here are the sigmoid curve, going from zero to one probability, and the wug-shaped curve, which combines two or more sigmoids. I argue that these signatures appear repeatedly in linguistics, and I adduce examples from phonology, syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics, phonetics, and language change. I suggest that the ability to generate these signatures is a trait that can help us choose between rival frameworks.","PeriodicalId":45803,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72599677","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-14DOI: 10.1146/annurev-linguistics-011619-030357
A. Kehler
The primary goal of coherence theory is to provide an explanation for the coherence properties of discourse: what properties distinguish a discourse from a mere collection of utterances, and what drives comprehenders to draw inferences in service of establishing coherence. However, the importance of coherence theory goes well beyond that; it also plays a crucial role in theories of a variety of discourse-dependent linguistic phenomena. This article surveys some ways in which coherence theory has been leveraged in this way, appealing to both Relational analyses and Question-Under-Discussion models. Theories of coherence establishment should therefore have a place in the linguist's toolbox as a source of explanation in linguistic theory.
{"title":"Coherence Establishment as a Source of Explanation in Linguistic Theory","authors":"A. Kehler","doi":"10.1146/annurev-linguistics-011619-030357","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-011619-030357","url":null,"abstract":"The primary goal of coherence theory is to provide an explanation for the coherence properties of discourse: what properties distinguish a discourse from a mere collection of utterances, and what drives comprehenders to draw inferences in service of establishing coherence. However, the importance of coherence theory goes well beyond that; it also plays a crucial role in theories of a variety of discourse-dependent linguistic phenomena. This article surveys some ways in which coherence theory has been leveraged in this way, appealing to both Relational analyses and Question-Under-Discussion models. Theories of coherence establishment should therefore have a place in the linguist's toolbox as a source of explanation in linguistic theory.","PeriodicalId":45803,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87551033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-14DOI: 10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031220-011554
Terrin N. Tamati, D. Pisoni, A. Moberly
Cochlear implants (CIs) represent a significant engineering and medical milestone in the treatment of hearing loss for both adults and children. In this review, we provide a brief overview of CI technology, describe the benefits that CIs can provide to adults and children who receive them, and discuss the specific limitations and issues faced by CI users. We emphasize the relevance of CIs to the linguistics community by demonstrating how CIs successfully provide access to spoken language. Furthermore, CI research can inform our basic understanding of spoken word recognition in adults and spoken language development in children. Linguistics research can also help us address the major clinical issue of outcome variability and motivate the development of new clinical tools to assess the unique challenges of adults and children with CIs, as well as novel interventions for individuals with poor outcomes.
{"title":"Speech and Language Outcomes in Adults and Children with Cochlear Implants","authors":"Terrin N. Tamati, D. Pisoni, A. Moberly","doi":"10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031220-011554","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031220-011554","url":null,"abstract":"Cochlear implants (CIs) represent a significant engineering and medical milestone in the treatment of hearing loss for both adults and children. In this review, we provide a brief overview of CI technology, describe the benefits that CIs can provide to adults and children who receive them, and discuss the specific limitations and issues faced by CI users. We emphasize the relevance of CIs to the linguistics community by demonstrating how CIs successfully provide access to spoken language. Furthermore, CI research can inform our basic understanding of spoken word recognition in adults and spoken language development in children. Linguistics research can also help us address the major clinical issue of outcome variability and motivate the development of new clinical tools to assess the unique challenges of adults and children with CIs, as well as novel interventions for individuals with poor outcomes.","PeriodicalId":45803,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90107666","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}