Clinical Linguistics
The clinical linguistics as a branch of applied linguistics concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of clinical pictures of language, speech, swallowing, and oral and written communication.
The question of determining the exact location of this still young subject as an interface between the major disciplines of linguistics , medicine and psychology has been asked for years .
education
Well-founded linguistic knowledge with medical, educational and psychological knowledge of the cognitive and anatomical foundations of language acquisition , language processing and language production is the basis for an activity in clinical linguistics. Clinical linguists mostly have an interdisciplinary university education with a focus on the areas of disorders of language development and speech motor skills .
Furthermore, extensive knowledge of theoretical and descriptive linguistics, psycho- and neurolinguistics , phonetics , neurophonetics as well as neurology , neuropsychology and medical psychology as well as education is acquired. Technical disciplines such as computer science, physics and mathematics are also included. The training is rounded off by clinical internships accompanying the course.
The difference is that clinical linguistics is an academic profession, while speech therapy is based on professional training at a technical school.
Places of activity
Clinical linguists work in clinics and practices in which speech disorders are diagnosed and treated, or they work in research and teaching.
A practice branch is also possible after approval by the medical service of the statutory health insurance companies. Certification by the Federal Association of Clinical Linguists (BKL) is a prerequisite for admission to health insurance.
Fields of activity
- Speech disorders ( aphasia ),
- Speech and voice disorders (dysarthrophonia, speech disorders ),
- Swallowing disorders ( dysphagia ),
and the disorders associated with these syndromes , such as
- Writing and reading disorders ( dysgraphia and dyslexia ) and
- But also speaking practices
- Voice and speech training ( human voice / speaking )
Possibilities and methods for them are developed
- Prevention,
- Early detection and diagnostics,
- Promotion or therapy.
In addition, there are connections with the professional fields of the subject areas and disciplines in research, teaching and therapy, for example computational linguistics and language acquisition research.
Related disciplines
Related disciplines include speech science , speech training , speech therapy and speech therapy .
Web links
- Training guidelines of the Federal Association of Clinical Linguists in Germany
- Federal Association of Clinical Linguistics (BKL)
- International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association
- German Federal Association of Academic Speech Therapists
- German Society for Speech Science and Speech Education (DGSS)
- Study Group History of Linguistics (SGdS)
- Society for Applied Linguistics (GAL)
- Association for Patholinguistics (VPL)