Foreword - Special issue: selected papers from ICPLA 2021

We welcome you to the first special issue dedicated to selected papers from the 18th biennial conference of the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association (ICPLA) held from June 23 to 25, 2021. As with previous ICPLA conference issues, this special issue continues the tradition of publishing selected fully-refereed papers in the field of clinical linguistics and phonetics that have undergone the usual rigorous peer-review process used by the journal.

At times, though, circumstances outside our control require us to break with traditions, and ICPLA 2021 entered new territory in a number of ways. Firstly, it was the first time that the ICPLA conference was held online. Originally planned to be hosted at Strathclyde University, Glasgow, in September 2020 by Drs Joanne Cleland, Anja Kuschmann, Ellie Sugden, Claire Timmins and PhD student Tom Starr-Marshall, the evolving Covid-19 pandemic required us to reconsider this plan. This initially meant moving the conference to June 2021 – in the hope of an in-person meeting – and then ultimately taking the difficult decision to move it online.

Secondly, postponing the conference meant a delay in the publication of selected ICPLA conference papers. To allow authors to publish their work in a timely fashion, we decided to reconfigure the submission process, and for the first time in the history of the conference proceedings, authors had the option of submitting to a pre- and/or a post-conference special issue. This volume here is the first collection of papers submitted to the ICPLA pre-conference issue, showcasing the latest research in the field of clinical linguistics and phonetics. The 22 papers included in these two double issues encompass a wide range of language and speech sciences topics such as phonetics, phonology, perception, morphology and syntax. The papers further discuss various communication issues in a diverse range of people including adults with traumatic brain injury and Parkinson’s disease as well as children and young people with autism, hearing impairment and cleft palate. In addition, papers investigate typical communication skills and discuss professional issues including education and training of pre-registration speech and language therapy students.

It is an honour to have worked with internationally well-established researchers as well as the early career researchers in the field to be able to present these selected papers from ICPLA 2021. Having found ways to engage virtually, this collection of papers is testament to the fact that ICPLA meetings continue to be an attractive forum for sharing cutting-edge research, creating the potential to move the discipline forward. We look forward to presenting the second set of selected post-conference papers from ICPLA 2021 soon.

Anja Kuschmann, Joanne Cleland and Eleanor Sugden (conference organisers and special issue editors).