The Intersection of Linguistic Research and Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
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Welcome to the website for: The Interest Group on The Intersection of Linguistic Research and Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
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People who speak with the aid of keyboards and other technological aids – users
of Augmentative and Alternative Communication – produce language in a unique
modality that is different from most speakers, including vocal articulators (most
speakers), and manual articulators (speakers of sign languages).
We are a group dedicated to investigating scientific questions posed by AAC
speakers. What can these wonderful AAC speakers teach science about human
language? We do not ask what they can teach us about disabled language, or
about the language of disabled speakers. We ask what these very abled AAC-
speakers can teach us about human language, because we do not consider them
linguistically disabled.
The group was launched at the first Think Tank for the Intersection of Linguistic
Research and Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), which took
place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania August 8-9, 2011. At that meeting people from
various specializations gathered together, including linguists, neuroscientists, an
AAC speaker, and speech pathologists, to articulate research questions in three
areas: Neurolinguistics, Language Acquisition, and the place of Modality in Human
Language. We began to articulate a research plan, including further questions in
other areas, which will be our long-term goals.