Language resources for clinical linguistics: introduction to the special issue

From the mid-1970s, a rich and growing body of research has delved into the linguistic characteristics associated with medical conditions. This highly interdisciplinary field of study, known as “Clinical Linguistics” since the pioneering studies of Crystal (1981, 1984, 1992), has gained increasing prominence and now stands as a fruitful and largely unexplored domain within the language sciences, poised for significant advancements at both theoretical and applied levels (Cummings, 2013).
Most children effortlessly acquire language during early neurodevelopmental stages, and, for most individuals, language competence remains stable throughout life. However, language acquisition is far from effortless for a significant number of kids, and a considerable number of adults experience language disturbances due to traumatic injuries, vascular accidents, or neurodegenerative diseases later in life (Damico et al., 2021). Therefore, as primarily suggested by Jakobson (8: p. 13), «for the linguist, who is concerned with the fully developed structure of language, its acquisition and dissolution cannot fail to provide much that is instructive».