Language Acquisition is an interdisciplinary journal serving the fields of first and second language acquisition. Research published in the journal addresses theoretical questions about language acquisition and language development from a variety of perspectives and a variety of methodological approaches. Studies may have implications for our understanding of grammatical representation and/or our understanding of cognition. Tools, applied rigorously, from formal linguistics, behavioral and neurolinguistic experiments, and computational approaches are equally welcome. Research involving diverse languages, including understudied languages; and diverse populations, including typical monolingual or multilingual learners as well as children and adults with language impairments, are particularly encouraged. Although we prioritize research that makes a strong theoretical contribution, we also welcome submissions that emphasize description of understudied languages. Such submissions can be primarily descriptive but should highlight why the languages or phenomena studied are relevant for addressing important theoretical issues.
Types of articles the journal publishes include: i) full-length research articles, ii) brief research reports, which report original empirical findings, major theoretical advances or crucial developments that warrant rapid communication to the scientific community; iii) review articles, which provide an original and synthetic perspective on a focused subarea of the field; iv) target and response, which consist of a longer target article and several shorter responses; and v) dissertation synopses.
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Language Acquisition, we are committed to ensuring that manuscripts are fairly reviewed regardless of English language proficiency. Please indicate on your cover letter if you wish to be considered for English Language support, a member of our editorial team may pre-review your manuscript and may provide you with suggestions for edits you can make that will increase readability. Please note that this is not a formal or professional editing service. We will only provide suggestions (which you can take or leave), and we will not do line-by-line editing. Requesting support consideration does not guarantee that your manuscript will be pre-reviewed, nor that the manuscript will be sent out for review or be favorably reviewed.
In addition, Language Acquisition awards two prizes. One is for the best article written by an early career scientist. The other prize is for the best contribution that expands the diversity of language acquisition research, by, for example, presenting data from an understudied language. Winners will be determined by the Editorial Team, consisting of the Editor in Chief, Brief Articles Editors, Associate Editors and Managing Editor. The prize winners will be announced in the first issue of the following year. Inquiries about the prizes should be directed to the Editor-in-Chief.
Peer Review Policy: All research articles in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and a double-anonymous review policy.
Publication office: Taylor & Francis, Inc., 530 Walnut Street, Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106 .
Readership:This journal will appeal to researchers and professionals in linguistics and psycholinguistics, and developmentalists.
Authors can choose to publish gold open access in this journal.
Read the Instructions for Authors for information on how to submit your article.
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