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211 Research Topics in Linguistics To Get Top Grades

research topics in linguistics

Many people find it hard to decide on their linguistics research topics because of the assumed complexities involved. They struggle to choose easy research paper topics for English language too because they think it could be too simple for a university or college level certificate.

All that you need to learn about Linguistics and English is sprawled across syntax, phonetics, morphology, phonology, semantics, grammar, vocabulary, and a few others. To easily create a top-notch essay or conduct a research study, you can consider this list of research topics in English language below for your university or college use. Note that you can fine-tune these to suit your interests.

Linguistics Research Paper Topics

If you want to study how language is applied and its importance in the world, you can consider these Linguistics topics for your research paper. They are:

  • An analysis of romantic ideas and their expression amongst French people
  • An overview of the hate language in the course against religion
  • Identify the determinants of hate language and the means of propagation
  • Evaluate a literature and examine how Linguistics is applied to the understanding of minor languages
  • Consider the impact of social media in the development of slangs
  • An overview of political slang and its use amongst New York teenagers
  • Examine the relevance of Linguistics in a digitalized world
  • Analyze foul language and how it’s used to oppress minors
  • Identify the role of language in the national identity of a socially dynamic society
  • Attempt an explanation to how the language barrier could affect the social life of an individual in a new society
  • Discuss the means through which language can enrich cultural identities
  • Examine the concept of bilingualism and how it applies in the real world
  • Analyze the possible strategies for teaching a foreign language
  • Discuss the priority of teachers in the teaching of grammar to non-native speakers
  • Choose a school of your choice and observe the slang used by its students: analyze how it affects their social lives
  • Attempt a critical overview of racist languages
  • What does endangered language means and how does it apply in the real world?
  • A critical overview of your second language and why it is a second language
  • What are the motivators of speech and why are they relevant?
  • Analyze the difference between the different types of communications and their significance to specially-abled persons
  • Give a critical overview of five literature on sign language
  • Evaluate the distinction between the means of language comprehension between an adult and a teenager
  • Consider a native American group and evaluate how cultural diversity has influenced their language
  • Analyze the complexities involved in code-switching and code-mixing
  • Give a critical overview of the importance of language to a teenager
  • Attempt a forensic overview of language accessibility and what it means
  • What do you believe are the means of communications and what are their uniqueness?
  • Attempt a study of Islamic poetry and its role in language development
  • Attempt a study on the role of Literature in language development
  • Evaluate the Influence of metaphors and other literary devices in the depth of each sentence
  • Identify the role of literary devices in the development of proverbs in any African country
  • Cognitive Linguistics: analyze two pieces of Literature that offers a critical view of perception
  • Identify and analyze the complexities in unspoken words
  • Expression is another kind of language: discuss
  • Identify the significance of symbols in the evolution of language
  • Discuss how learning more than a single language promote cross-cultural developments
  • Analyze how the loss of a mother tongue affect the language Efficiency of a community
  • Critically examine how sign language works
  • Using literature from the medieval era, attempt a study of the evolution of language
  • Identify how wars have led to the reduction in the popularity of a language of your choice across any country of the world
  • Critically examine five Literature on why accent changes based on environment
  • What are the forces that compel the comprehension of language in a child
  • Identify and explain the difference between the listening and speaking skills and their significance in the understanding of language
  • Give a critical overview of how natural language is processed
  • Examine the influence of language on culture and vice versa
  • It is possible to understand a language even without living in that society: discuss
  • Identify the arguments regarding speech defects
  • Discuss how the familiarity of language informs the creation of slangs
  • Explain the significance of religious phrases and sacred languages
  • Explore the roots and evolution of incantations in Africa

Sociolinguistic Research Topics

You may as well need interesting Linguistics topics based on sociolinguistic purposes for your research. Sociolinguistics is the study and recording of natural speech. It’s primarily the casual status of most informal conversations. You can consider the following Sociolinguistic research topics for your research:

  • What makes language exceptional to a particular person?
  • How does language form a unique means of expression to writers?
  • Examine the kind of speech used in health and emergencies
  • Analyze the language theory explored by family members during dinner
  • Evaluate the possible variation of language based on class
  • Evaluate the language of racism, social tension, and sexism
  • Discuss how Language promotes social and cultural familiarities
  • Give an overview of identity and language
  • Examine why some language speakers enjoy listening to foreigners who speak their native language
  • Give a forensic analysis of his the language of entertainment is different to the language in professional settings
  • Give an understanding of how Language changes
  • Examine the Sociolinguistics of the Caribbeans
  • Consider an overview of metaphor in France
  • Explain why the direct translation of written words is incomprehensible in Linguistics
  • Discuss the use of language in marginalizing a community
  • Analyze the history of Arabic and the culture that enhanced it
  • Discuss the growth of French and the influences of other languages
  • Examine how the English language developed and its interdependence on other languages
  • Give an overview of cultural diversity and Linguistics in teaching
  • Challenge the attachment of speech defect with disability of language listening and speaking abilities
  • Explore the uniqueness of language between siblings
  • Explore the means of making requests between a teenager and his parents
  • Observe and comment on how students relate with their teachers through language
  • Observe and comment on the communication of strategy of parents and teachers
  • Examine the connection of understanding first language with academic excellence

Language Research Topics

Numerous languages exist in different societies. This is why you may seek to understand the motivations behind language through these Linguistics project ideas. You can consider the following interesting Linguistics topics and their application to language:

  • What does language shift mean?
  • Discuss the stages of English language development?
  • Examine the position of ambiguity in a romantic Language of your choice
  • Why are some languages called romantic languages?
  • Observe the strategies of persuasion through Language
  • Discuss the connection between symbols and words
  • Identify the language of political speeches
  • Discuss the effectiveness of language in an indigenous cultural revolution
  • Trace the motivators for spoken language
  • What does language acquisition mean to you?
  • Examine three pieces of literature on language translation and its role in multilingual accessibility
  • Identify the science involved in language reception
  • Interrogate with the context of language disorders
  • Examine how psychotherapy applies to victims of language disorders
  • Study the growth of Hindi despite colonialism
  • Critically appraise the term, language erasure
  • Examine how colonialism and war is responsible for the loss of language
  • Give an overview of the difference between sounds and letters and how they apply to the German language
  • Explain why the placement of verb and preposition is different in German and English languages
  • Choose two languages of your choice and examine their historical relationship
  • Discuss the strategies employed by people while learning new languages
  • Discuss the role of all the figures of speech in the advancement of language
  • Analyze the complexities of autism and its victims
  • Offer a linguist approach to language uniqueness between a Down Syndrome child and an autist
  • Express dance as a language
  • Express music as a language
  • Express language as a form of language
  • Evaluate the role of cultural diversity in the decline of languages in South Africa
  • Discuss the development of the Greek language
  • Critically review two literary texts, one from the medieval era and another published a decade ago, and examine the language shifts

Linguistics Essay Topics

You may also need Linguistics research topics for your Linguistics essays. As a linguist in the making, these can help you consider controversies in Linguistics as a discipline and address them through your study. You can consider:

  • The connection of sociolinguistics in comprehending interests in multilingualism
  • Write on your belief of how language encourages sexism
  • What do you understand about the differences between British and American English?
  • Discuss how slangs grew and how they started
  • Consider how age leads to loss of language
  • Review how language is used in formal and informal conversation
  • Discuss what you understand by polite language
  • Discuss what you know by hate language
  • Evaluate how language has remained flexible throughout history
  • Mimicking a teacher is a form of exercising hate Language: discuss
  • Body Language and verbal speech are different things: discuss
  • Language can be exploitative: discuss
  • Do you think language is responsible for inciting aggression against the state?
  • Can you justify the structural representation of any symbol of your choice?
  • Religious symbols are not ordinary Language: what are your perspective on day-to-day languages and sacred ones?
  • Consider the usage of language by an English man and someone of another culture
  • Discuss the essence of code-mixing and code-switching
  • Attempt a psychological assessment on the role of language in academic development
  • How does language pose a challenge to studying?
  • Choose a multicultural society of your choice and explain the problem they face
  • What forms does Language use in expression?
  • Identify the reasons behind unspoken words and actions
  • Why do universal languages exist as a means of easy communication?
  • Examine the role of the English language in the world
  • Examine the role of Arabic in the world
  • Examine the role of romantic languages in the world
  • Evaluate the significance of each teaching Resources in a language classroom
  • Consider an assessment of language analysis
  • Why do people comprehend beyond what is written or expressed?
  • What is the impact of hate speech on a woman?
  • Do you believe that grammatical errors are how everyone’s comprehension of language is determined?
  • Observe the Influence of technology in language learning and development
  • Which parts of the body are responsible for understanding new languages
  • How has language informed development?
  • Would you say language has improved human relations or worsened it considering it as a tool for violence?
  • Would you say language in a black populous state is different from its social culture in white populous states?
  • Give an overview of the English language in Nigeria
  • Give an overview of the English language in Uganda
  • Give an overview of the English language in India
  • Give an overview of Russian in Europe
  • Give a conceptual analysis on stress and how it works
  • Consider the means of vocabulary development and its role in cultural relationships
  • Examine the effects of Linguistics in language
  • Present your understanding of sign language
  • What do you understand about descriptive language and prescriptive Language?

List of Research Topics in English Language

You may need English research topics for your next research. These are topics that are socially crafted for you as a student of language in any institution. You can consider the following for in-depth analysis:

  • Examine the travail of women in any feminist text of your choice
  • Examine the movement of feminist literature in the Industrial period
  • Give an overview of five Gothic literature and what you understand from them
  • Examine rock music and how it emerged as a genre
  • Evaluate the cultural association with Nina Simone’s music
  • What is the relevance of Shakespeare in English literature?
  • How has literature promoted the English language?
  • Identify the effect of spelling errors in the academic performance of students in an institution of your choice
  • Critically survey a university and give rationalize the literary texts offered as Significant
  • Examine the use of feminist literature in advancing the course against patriarchy
  • Give an overview of the themes in William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”
  • Express the significance of Ernest Hemingway’s diction in contemporary literature
  • Examine the predominant devices in the works of William Shakespeare
  • Explain the predominant devices in the works of Christopher Marlowe
  • Charles Dickens and his works: express the dominating themes in his Literature
  • Why is Literature described as the mirror of society?
  • Examine the issues of feminism in Sefi Atta’s “Everything Good Will Come” and Bernadine Evaristos’s “Girl, Woman, Other”
  • Give an overview of the stylistics employed in the writing of “Girl, Woman, Other” by Bernadine Evaristo
  • Describe the language of advertisement in social media and newspapers
  • Describe what poetic Language means
  • Examine the use of code-switching and code-mixing on Mexican Americans
  • Examine the use of code-switching and code-mixing in Indian Americans
  • Discuss the influence of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” on satirical literature
  • Examine the Linguistics features of “Native Son” by Richard Wright
  • What is the role of indigenous literature in promoting cultural identities
  • How has literature informed cultural consciousness?
  • Analyze five literature on semantics and their Influence on the study
  • Assess the role of grammar in day to day communications
  • Observe the role of multidisciplinary approaches in understanding the English language
  • What does stylistics mean while analyzing medieval literary texts?
  • Analyze the views of philosophers on language, society, and culture

English Research Paper Topics for College Students

For your college work, you may need to undergo a study of any phenomenon in the world. Note that they could be Linguistics essay topics or mainly a research study of an idea of your choice. Thus, you can choose your research ideas from any of the following:

  • The concept of fairness in a democratic Government
  • The capacity of a leader isn’t in his or her academic degrees
  • The concept of discrimination in education
  • The theory of discrimination in Islamic states
  • The idea of school policing
  • A study on grade inflation and its consequences
  • A study of taxation and Its importance to the economy from a citizen’s perspectives
  • A study on how eloquence lead to discrimination amongst high school students
  • A study of the influence of the music industry in teens
  • An Evaluation of pornography and its impacts on College students
  • A descriptive study of how the FBI works according to Hollywood
  • A critical consideration of the cons and pros of vaccination
  • The health effect of sleep disorders
  • An overview of three literary texts across three genres of Literature and how they connect to you
  • A critical overview of “King Oedipus”: the role of the supernatural in day to day life
  • Examine the novel “12 Years a Slave” as a reflection of servitude and brutality exerted by white slave owners
  • Rationalize the emergence of racist Literature with concrete examples
  • A study of the limits of literature in accessing rural readers
  • Analyze the perspectives of modern authors on the Influence of medieval Literature on their craft
  • What do you understand by the mortality of a literary text?
  • A study of controversial Literature and its role in shaping the discussion
  • A critical overview of three literary texts that dealt with domestic abuse and their role in changing the narratives about domestic violence
  • Choose three contemporary poets and analyze the themes of their works
  • Do you believe that contemporary American literature is the repetition of unnecessary themes already treated in the past?
  • A study of the evolution of Literature and its styles
  • The use of sexual innuendos in literature
  • The use of sexist languages in literature and its effect on the public
  • The disaster associated with media reports of fake news
  • Conduct a study on how language is used as a tool for manipulation
  • Attempt a criticism of a controversial Literary text and why it shouldn’t be studied or sold in the first place

Finding Linguistics Hard To Write About?

With these topics, you can commence your research with ease. However, if you need professional writing help for any part of the research, you can scout here online for the best research paper writing service.

There are several expert writers on ENL hosted on our website that you can consider for a fast response on your research study at a cheap price.

As students, you may be unable to cover every part of your research on your own. This inability is the reason you should consider expert writers for custom research topics in Linguistics approved by your professor for high grades.

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130+ Original Linguistics Research Topics: Ideas To Focus On

Linguistics research topics

Linguistics is an exciting course to learn. Unfortunately, writing a research paper or essay or write my thesis in linguistics is not as easy. Many students struggle to find a good research topic to write about. Finding a good research topic is crucial because it is the foundation of your paper. It will guide your research and dictate what you write.

Creative Language Research Topics

Argumentative research titles about language, english language research topics for stem students, social media research topics about language, the best quantitative research topics about language, more creative sociolinguistics research topics, research topics in english language education for students, top thesis topics in language, creative language and gender research topics, language education research topics on social issues, research title about language acquisition.

Most students turn to the internet to find research paper topics. Sadly, most sources provide unoriginal and basic topics. For this reason, this article provides some creative sample research topics for English majors.

Linguistics is a fascinating subject with so many research topic options. Check out the following creative research topics in language

  • How you can use linguistic patterns to locate migration paths
  • Computers and their effect on language creation
  • The internet and its impacts on modern language
  • Has text messages helped create a new linguistic culture?
  • Language and change; how social changes influence language development
  • How language changes over time
  • How effective is non-verbal communication in communicating emotions?
  • Verbal communication and emotional displays: what is the link?
  • The negative power of language in internet interactions
  • How words change as society develops
  • Is the evolution of languages a scientific concept?
  • Role of technology in linguistics

Argumentative essay topics should state your view on a subject so you can create content to defend the view and convince others that it is logical and well-researched. Here are some excellent language research titles examples

  • Society alters words and their meanings over time
  • Children have a better grasp of new language and speech than adults
  • Childhood is the perfect time to develop speech
  • Individuals can communicate without a shared language
  • Learning more than one language as a child can benefit individuals in adulthood
  • Elementary schools should teach students a second language
  • Language acquisition changes at different growth stages
  • The impact of technology on linguistics
  • Language has significant power to capitalize on emotions
  • The proper use of language can have positive impacts on society

Research topics for STEM students do not differ much from those for college and high school students. However, they are slightly more targeted. Find an excellent research title about language for your paper below:

  • How does language promote gender differences?
  • Music and language evolution: the correlation
  • Slang: development and evolution in different cultures
  • Can language create bonds among cross-cultural societies?
  • Formal vs informal language: what are the differences?
  • Age and pronunciation: what is the correlation?
  • How languages vary across STEM subjects
  • Are STEM students less proficient in languages?
  • The use of language in the legal sector
  • The importance of non-verbal communication and body language
  • How politeness is perceived through language choices and use
  • The evolution of English through history

Did you know you can find excellent social media research topics if you do it right? Check out the following social media language research titles:

  • The role of the internet in promoting language acquisition
  • A look at changes in languages since social media gained traction
  • How social media brings new language
  • How effective are language apps in teaching foreign languages?
  • The popularity of language applications among learners
  • A study of the impact of the internet on the spreading of slang
  • Social media as a tool for promoting hate language
  • Free speech vs hate speech: what is the difference?
  • How social media platforms can combat hate language propagation
  • How can social media users express emotions through written language?
  • Political censorship and its impact on the linguistics applied in the media
  • The differences between social media and real-life languages

A language research title can be the foundation of your quantitative research. Find some of the best examples of research topics for English majors here:

  • Language barriers in the healthcare sector
  • What percentage of kids below five struggle with languages?
  • Understanding the increase in multilingual people
  • Language barriers and their impact on effective communication
  • Social media and language: are language barriers existent in social media?
  • Bilingualism affects people’s personalities and temperaments
  • Can non-native teachers effectively teach local students the English language?
  • Bilingualism and its impact on social perceptions
  • The new generative grammar concept: an in-depth analysis
  • Racist language: its history and impacts
  • A look into examples of endangered languages
  • Attitudes toward a language and how it can impact language acquisition

You can choose a research topic about language based on social issues, science concerns like biochemistry topics , and much more. Sociolinguistics is the study of the correlation between language and society and the application of language in various social situations. Here are some excellent research topics in sociolinguistics:

  • An analysis of how sociolinguistics can help people understand multi-lingual language choices
  • An analysis of sociolinguistics through America’s color and race background
  • The role of sociolinguistics in children development
  • Comparing sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics
  • Sociolinguistics and gender empowerment: an analysis of their correlation
  • How media houses use sociolinguistics to create bias and gain a competitive advantage
  • The value of sociolinguistics education in the teaching of discipline
  • The role played by sociolinguistics in creating social change throughout history
  • Research methods used in sociolinguistics
  • Different sociolinguistics and their role in English evolution
  • Sociolinguistics: an in-depth analysis
  • What is sociolinguistics, and what is its role in language evolution?

A good research topic in English will serve as the guiding point for your research paper. Find a suitable research topic for English majors below:

  • Types of indigenous languages
  • Language s an essential element of human life
  • Language as the primary communication medium
  • The value of language in society
  • The negative side of coded language
  • School curriculums and how they influence languages
  • Linguistics: a forensic language
  • Elements that influence people’s ability to learn a new language
  • The development of the English language
  • How the English language borrows from other languages
  • Multilingualism: an insight
  • The correlation between metaphors and similes

Many students struggle to find good thesis topics in language and linguistics. As you read more on the thesis statement about social media , make sure you also understand every thesis title about language from the following examples:

  • The classification of human languages
  • The application of different tools in language identification
  • The role of linguists in language identification
  • The contributions of Greek philosophers to language development
  • The origin of language: early speculations
  • The history of language through the scope of mythology
  • Theories that explain the origin and development of language
  • Is language the most effective form of communication
  • The impact of brain injuries on language
  • Language impacts on sports
  • Linguistics intervention that won’t work in this century
  • Language as a system of symbols

Just like economic research paper topics , gender and language topics do not have to stick to the norms or the standards by which all students write. You can exercise some creativity when creating your topic. Discover a topic about language and gender from this list:

  • Language and gender: what is the correlation?
  • How different genders perceive language
  • Does a kid’s gender influence their grasp of languages?
  • Men vs Women: a statistical overview of their multilingual prowess.
  • The perception of language from the female standpoint
  • The difference between female and male language use
  • The use of language as a tool for connection between females and males
  • Does gender have an impact on efficient communication
  • Does gender impact word choices in conversations?
  • Females have an easier time learning two or more languages
  • What makes female and male language choices differ?
  • Are females better at communicating using spoken language?

There are many social issues related to language education that you can cover in your research paper. Check out the following topics about language related to social issues research topics for your research:

  • Language translation: what makes it possible
  • How does the mother tongue influence pronunciation?
  • Issues that encourage people to learn different languages
  • Sign language: origin and more
  • Role of language in solving conflicts
  • Language and mental health: a vivid analysis
  • The similarities between English and French languages
  • Language disorders: an overview
  • Common barriers to language acquisition
  • The impact of mother tongue on effective communication
  • Reasons you should learn two or more languages
  • The benefits of multilingualism in the corporate world
  • Language and identity: what is the correlation?

Language acquisition is the process by which people gain the ability to understand and produce language. Like anatomy research paper topics , language acquisition is a great area to focus your linguistics research. Here are some research questions that bring the focus of the study of linguistic and language acquisition:

  • Language acquisition: an overview
  • What attitudes do people have about language acquisition
  • How attitude can impact language acquisition
  • The evolution of language acquisition over time
  • Language and ethnicity: their correlation
  • Do native English speakers have an easier time acquiring new languages?
  • A case study on political language
  • Why is language acquisition a key factor in leadership
  • Language acquisition and mother tongue pronunciation: the link
  • Ambiguity as a barrier to language acquisition
  • How words acquire their meanings

While a good topic can help capture the reader and create a good impression, it is insufficient to earn you excellent grades. You also need quality content for your paper to get perfect grades. However, creating a high-quality research paper takes time, effort, and skill, which most students do not have.

For these reasons, we offer quality research paper writing services for all students. We guarantee quality papers, timely deliveries, and originality. Reach out to our writers for top linguistics research papers today!

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Trends and hot topics in linguistics studies from 2011 to 2021: A bibliometric analysis of highly cited papers

Associated data.

The datasets presented in this study can be found in online repositories. The names of the repository/repositories and accession number(s) can be found in the article/ supplementary material .

High citations most often characterize quality research that reflects the foci of the discipline. This study aims to spotlight the most recent hot topics and the trends looming from the highly cited papers (HCPs) in Web of Science category of linguistics and language & linguistics with bibliometric analysis. The bibliometric information of the 143 HCPs based on Essential Citation Indicators was retrieved and used to identify and analyze influential contributors at the levels of journals, authors, and countries. The most frequently explored topics were identified by corpus analysis and manual checking. The retrieved topics can be grouped into five general categories: multilingual-related , language teaching , and learning related , psycho/pathological/cognitive linguistics-related , methods and tools-related , and others . Topics such as bi/multilingual(ism) , translanguaging , language/writing development , models , emotions , foreign language enjoyment (FLE) , cognition , anxiety are among the most frequently explored. Multilingual and positive trends are discerned from the investigated HCPs. The findings inform linguistic researchers of the publication characteristics of the HCPs in the linguistics field and help them pinpoint the research trends and directions to exert their efforts in future studies.

1. Introduction

Citations, as a rule, exhibit a skewed distributional pattern over the academic publications: a few papers accumulate an overwhelming large citations while the majority are rarely, if ever, cited. Correspondingly, the highly cited papers (HCPs) receive the greatest amount of attention in the academia as citations are commonly regarded as a strong indicator of research excellence. For academic professionals, following HCPs is an efficient way to stay current with the developments in a field and to make better informed decisions regarding potential research topics and directions to exert their efforts. For academic institutions, government and private agencies, and generally the science policy makers, they keep a close eye on and take advantage of this visible indicator, citations, to make more informed decisions on research funding allocation and science policy formulation. Under the backdrop of ever-growing academic outputs, there is noticeable attention shift from publication quantity to publication quality. Many countries are developing research policies to identify “excellent” universities, research groups, and researchers ( Danell, 2011 ). In a word, HCPs showcase high-quality research, encompass significant themes, and constitute a critical reference point in a research field as they are “gold bullion of science” ( Smith, 2007 ).

2. Literature review

Bibliometrics, a term coined by Pritchard (1969) , refers to the application of mathematical methods to the analysis of academic publications. Essentially this is a quantitative method to depict publication patterns within a given field based on a body of literature. There are many bibliometric studies on natural and social sciences in general ( Hsu and Ho, 2014 ; Zhu and Lei, 2022 ) and on various specific disciplines such as management sciences ( Liao et al., 2018 ), biomass research ( Chen and Ho, 2015 ), computer sciences ( Xie and Willett, 2013 ), and sport sciences ( Mancebo et al., 2013 ; Ríos et al., 2013 ), etc. In these studies, researchers tracked developments, weighed research impacts, and highlighted emerging scientific fronts with bibliometric methods. In the field of linguistics, bibliometric studies all occurred in the past few years ( van Doorslaer and Gambier, 2015 ; Lei and Liao, 2017 ; Gong et al., 2018 ; Lei and Liu, 2018 , 2019 ). These bibliometric studies mostly examined a sub-area of linguistics, such as corpus linguistics ( Liao and Lei, 2017 ), translation studies ( van Doorslaer and Gambier, 2015 ), the teaching of Chinese as a second/foreign language ( Gong et al., 2018 ), academic journals like System ( Lei and Liu, 2018 ) or Porta Linguarum ( Sabiote and Rodríguez, 2015 ), etc. Although Lei and Liu (2019) took the entire discipline of linguistics under investigation, their research is exclusively focused on applied linguistics and restricted in a limited number of journals (42 journals in total), leaving publications in other linguistics disciplines and qualified journals unexamined.

Over the recent years, a number of studies have been concerned with “excellent” papers or HCPs. For example, Small (2004) surveyed the HCPs authors’ opinions on why their papers are highly cited. The strong interest, the novelty, the utility, and the high importance of the work were among the most frequently mentioned. Most authors also considered that their selected HCPs are indeed based on their most important work in their academic career. Aksnes (2003) investigated the characteristics of HCPs and found that they were generally authored by a large number of scientists, often involving international collaboration. Some researchers even attempted to predict the HCPs by building mathematical models, implying “the first mover advantage in scientific publication” ( Newman, 2008 , 2014 ). In other words, papers published earlier in a field generally are more likely to accumulate more citations than those published later. Although many papers addressed HCPs from different perspectives, they held a common belief that HCPs are very different from less or zero cited papers and thus deserve utmost attention in academic research ( Aksnes, 2003 ; Blessinger and Hrycaj, 2010 ; Yan et al., 2022 ).

Although an increased focus on research quality can be observed in different fields, opinions diverge on the range and the inclusion criterion of excellent papers. Are they ‘highly cited’, ‘top cited’, or ‘most frequently cited’ papers? Aksnes (2003) noted two different approaches to define a highly cited article, involving absolute or relative thresholds, respectively. An absolute threshold stipulates a minimum number of citations for identifying excellent papers while a relative threshold employs the percentile rank classes, for example, the top 10% most highly cited papers in a discipline or in a publication year or in a publication set. It is important to note that citations differ significantly in different fields and disciplines. A HCP in natural sciences generally accumulates more citations than its counterpart in social sciences. Thus, it is necessary to investigate HCPs from different fields separately or adopt different inclusion criterion to ensure a valid comparison.

The present study has been motivated by two considerations. First, the sizable number of publications of varied qualities in a scientific field makes it difficult or even impossible to conduct any reliable and effective literature research. Focusing on the quality publications, the HCPs in particular, might lend more credibility to the findings on trends. Second, HCPs can serve as a great platform to discover potentially important information for the development of a discipline and understand the past, present, and future of the scientific structure. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the hot topics and publication trends in the Web of Science category of linguistics or language & linguistics (shortened as linguistics in later references) with bibliometric methods. The study aims to answer the following three questions:

  • Who are the most productive and impactful contributors of the HCPs in WoS category of linguistics or language & linguistics in terms of publication venues, authors, and countries?
  • What are the most frequently explored topics in HCPs?
  • What are the general research trends revealed from the HCPs?

3. Materials and methods

Different from previous studies which used an arbitrary inclusion threshold (e.g., Blessinger and Hrycaj, 2010 ; Hsu and Ho, 2014 ), we rely on Essential Science Indicator (ESI) to identify the HCPs. Developed by Clarivate, a leading company in the areas of bibliometrics and scientometrics, ESI reveals emerging science trends as well as influential individuals, institutions, papers, journals, and countries in any scientific fields of inquiry by drawing on the complete WoS databases. ESI has been chosen for the following three reasons. First, ESI adopts a stricter inclusion criterion for HCPs identification. That is, a paper is selected as a HCP only when its citations exceed the top 1% citation threshold in each of the 22 ESI subject categories. Second, ESI is widely used and recognized for its reliability and authority in identifying the top-charting work, generating “excellent” metrics including hot and highly cited papers. Third, ESI automatically updates its database to generate the most recent HCPs, especially suitable for trend studies for a specified timeframe.

3.1. Data source

The data retrieval was completed at the portal of our university library on June 20, 2022. The methods to retrieve the data are described in Table 1 . The bibliometric indicators regarding the important contributors at journal/author/country levels were obtained. Specifically, after the research was completed, we clicked the “Analyze Results” bar on the result page for the detailed descriptive analysis of the retrieved bibliometric data.

Retrieval strategies.

Several points should be noted about the search strategies. First, we searched the bibliometric data from two sub-databases of WoS core collection: Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) and Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI). There is no need to include the sub-database of Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) because publications in the linguistics field are almost exclusively indexed in SSCI and A&HCI journals. WoS core collection was chosen as the data source because it boasts one of the most comprehensive and authoritative databases of bibliometric information in the world. Many previous studies utilized WoS to retrieve bibliometric data. van Oorschot et al. (2018) and Ruggeri et al. (2019) even indicated that WoS meets the highest standards in terms of impact factor and citation counts and hence guarantees the validity of any bibliometric analysis. Second, we do not restrict the document types as HCPs selection informed by ESI only considers articles and reviews. Third, we do not set the date range as the dataset of ESI-HCPs is automatically updated regularly to include the most recent 10 years of publications.

The aforementioned query obtained a total of 143 HCPs published in 48 journals contributed by 352 authors of 226 institutions. We then downloaded the raw bibliometric parameters of the 143 HCPs for follow-up analysis including publication years, authors, publication titles, countries, affiliations, abstracts, citation reports, etc. A complete list of the 143 HCPs can be found in the Supplementary Material . We collected the most recent impact factor (IF) of each journal from the 2022 Journal Citation Reports (JCR).

3.2. Data analysis

3.2.1. citation analysis.

A citation threshold is the minimum number of citations obtained by ranking papers in a research field in descending order by citation counts and then selecting the top fraction or percentage of papers. In ESI, the highly cited threshold reveals the minimum number of citations received by the top 1% of papers from each of the 10 database years. In other words, a paper has to meet the minimum citation threshold that varies by research fields and by years to enter the HCP list. Of the 22 research fields in ESI, Social Science, General is a broad field covering a number of WoS categories including linguistics and language & linguistics . We checked the ESI official website to obtain the yearly highly cited thresholds in the research field of Social Science , General as shown in Figure 1 ( https://esi.clarivate.com/ThresholdsAction.action ). As we can see, the longer a paper has been published, the more citations it has to receive to meet the threshold. We then divided the raw citation numbers of HCPs with the Highly Cited Thresholds in the corresponding year to obtain the normalized citations for each HCP.

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Highly cited thresholds in the research field of Social Sciences, General.

3.2.2. Corpus analysis and manual checking

To determine the most frequently explored topics in these HCPs, we used both corpus-based analysis of word frequency and manual checking. Specifically, the more frequently a word or phrase occurs in a specifically designed corpus, the more likely it constitutes a research topic. In this study, we built an Abstract corpus with all the abstracts of the 143 HCPs, totaling 24,800 tokens. The procedures to retrieve the research topics in the Abstract corpus were as follows. First, the 143 pieces of abstracts were saved as separate .txt files in one folder. Second, AntConc ( Anthony, 2022 ), a corpus analysis tool for concordancing and text analysis, was employed to extract lists of n-grams (2–4) in decreasing order of frequency. We also generated a list of individual nouns because sometimes individual nouns can also constitute research topics. Considering our small corpus data, we adopted both frequency (3) and range criteria (3) for topic candidacy. That is, a candidate n-gram must occur at least 3 times and in at least 3 different abstract files. The frequency threshold guarantees the importance of the candidate topics while the range threshold guarantees that the topics are not overly crowded in a few number of publications. In this process, we actually tested the frequency and range thresholds several rounds for the inclusion of all the potential topics. In total, we obtained 531 nouns, 1,330 2-grams, 331 3-grams, and 81 4-grams. Third, because most of the retrieved n-grams cannot function as meaningful research topics, we manually checked all the candidate items and discussed extensively to decide their roles as potential research topics until full agreements were reached. Finally, we read all the abstracts of the 143 HCPs to further validate their roles as research topics. In the end, we got 118 topic items in total.

4.1. Main publication venues of HCPs

Of the 48 journals which published the 143 HCPs, 17 journals have contributed at least 3 HCPs ( Table 2 ), around 71.33% of the total examined HCPs (102/143), indicating that HCPs tend to be highly concentrated in a limited number of journals. The three largest publication outlets of HCPs are Bilingualism Language and Cognition (16), International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism (11), and Modern Language Journal (10). Because each journal varies greatly in the number of papers published per year and the number of HCPs is associated with journal circulations, we divided the total number of papers (TP) in the examined years (2011–2021) with the number of the HCPs to acquire the HCP percentage for each journal (HCPs/TP). The three journals with the highest HCPs/TP percentage are Annual Review of Applied Linguistics (2.26), Modern Language Journal (2.08), and Bilingualism Language and Cognition (1.74), indicating that papers published in these journals have a higher probability to enter the HCPs list.

Top 17 publication venues of HCPs.

N: the number of HCPs in each journal; N%: the percentage of HCPs in each journal in the total of 143 HCPs; TP: the total number of papers in the examined timespan (2011–2021); N/TP %: the percentage of HCPs in the total journal publications in the examined time span; TC/HCP: average citations of each HCP; R: journal ranking for the designated indicator; IF: Impact Factor in the year of 2022.

In terms of the general impact of the HCPs from each journal, we divided the number of HCPs with their total citations (TC) to obtain the average citations for each HCP (TC/HCP). The three journals with the highest TC/HCP are Journal of Memory and Language (837.86), Computational Linguistics (533.75), and Journal of Pragmatics (303.75). It indicates that even in the same WoS category, HCPs in different journals have strikingly different capability to accumulate citations. For example, the TC/HCP in System is as low as 31.73, which is even less than 4% of the highest TC/HCP in Journal of Memory and Language .

In regards to the latest journal impact factor (IF) in 2022, the top four journals with the highest IF are Computational Linguistics (7.778) , Modern Language Journal (7.5), Computer Assisted Language Learning (5.964), and Language Learning (5.24). According to the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) quantile rankings in WoS category of linguistics , all the journals on the list belong to the Q 1 (the top 25%), indicating that contributors are more likely to be attracted to contribute and cite papers in these prestigious high impact journals.

4.2. Authors of HCPs

A total of 352 authors had their names listed in the 143 HCPs, of whom 33 authors appeared in at least 2 HCPs as shown in Table 3 . We also provided in Table 3 other indicators to evaluate the authors’ productivity and impact including the total number of citations (TC), the number of citations per HCP, and the number of First author or Corresponding author HCPs (FA/CA). The reason we include the FA/CA indicator is that first authors and corresponding authors are usually considered to contribute the most and should receive greater proportion of credit in academic publications ( Marui et al., 2004 ; Dance, 2012 ).

Authors with at least 2 HCPs.

N: number of HCPs from each author; FA/CA: first author or corresponding author HCPs; TC: total citations of the HCPs from each author; C/HCP: average citations per HCP for each author.

In terms of the number of HCPs, Dewaele JM from Birkbeck Univ London tops the list with 7 HCPs with total citations of 492 (TC = 492), followed by Li C from Huazhong Univ Sci & Technol (#HCPs = 5; TC = 215) and Saito K from UCL (#HCPs = 5; TC = 576). It is to be noted that both Li C and Saito K have close academic collaborations with Dewaele JM . For example, 3 of the 5 HCPs by Li C are co-authored with Dewaele JM . The topics in their co-authored HCPs are mostly about foreign language learning emotions such as boredom , anxiety , enjoyment , the measurement , and positive psychology .

In regards to TC, Li, W . from UCL stands out as the most influential scholar among all the listed authors with total citations of 956 from 2 HCPs, followed by Norton B from Univ British Columbia (TC = 915) and Vasishth S from Univ Potsdam (TC = 694). The average citations per HCP from them are also the highest among the listed authors (478, 305, 347, respectively). It is important to note that Li, W.’ s 2 HCPs are his groundbreaking works on translanguaging which almost become must-reads for anyone who engages in translanguaging research ( Li, 2011 , 2018 ). Besides, Li, W. single authors his 2 HCPs, which is extremely rare as HCPs are often the results from multiple researchers. Norton B ’s HCPs are exploring some core issues in applied linguistics such as identity and investment , language learning , and social change that are considered the foundational work in its field ( Norton and Toohey, 2011 ; Darvin and Norton, 2015 ).

From the perspective of FA/CA papers, Li C from Huazhong Univ Sci and Technol is prominent because she is the first author of all her 5 HCPs. Her research on language learning emotions in the Chinese context is gaining widespread recognition ( Li et al., 2018 , 2019 , 2021 ; Li, 2019 , 2021 ). However, as a newly emerging researcher, most of her HCPs are published in the very recent years and hence accumulate relatively fewer citations (TC = 215). Mondada L from Univ Basel follows closely and single authors her 3 HCPs. Her work is mostly devoted to conversation analysis , multimodality , and social interaction ( Mondada, 2016 , 2018 , 2019 ).

We need to mention the following points regarding the productive authors of HCPs. First, when we calculated the number of HCPs from each author, only the papers published in the journals indexed in the investigated WoS categories were taken in account ( linguistics; language & linguistics ), which came as a compromise to protect the linguistics oriented nature of the HCPs. For example, Brysbaert M from Ghent University claimed a total of 8 HCPs at the time of the data retrieval, of which 6 HCPs were published in WoS category of psychology and more psychologically oriented, hence not included in our study. Besides, all the authors on the author list were treated equally when we calculated the number of HCPs, disregarding the author ordering. That implies that some influential authors may not be able to enter the list as their publications are comparatively fewer. Second, as some authors reported different affiliations at their different career stages, we only provide their most recent affiliation for convenience. Third, it is highly competitive to have one’s work selected as HCPs. The fact that a majority of the HCPs authors do not appear in our productive author list does not diminish their great contributions to this field. The rankings in Table 3 does not necessarily reflect the recognition authors have earned in academia at large.

4.3. Productive countries of HCPs

In total, the 143 HCPs originated from 33 countries. The most productive countries that contributed at least three HCPs are listed in Table 4 . The USA took an overwhelming lead with 59 HCPs, followed distantly by England with 31 HCPs. They also boasted the highest total citations (TC = 15,770; TC = 9,840), manifesting their high productivity and strong influence as traditional powerhouses in linguistics research. In regards to the average citations per HCP, Germany , England and the USA were the top three countries (TC/HCP = 281.67, 281.14, and 267.29, respectively). Although China held the third position with 19 HCPs published, its TC/HCP is the third from the bottom (TC/HCP = 66.84). One of the important reasons is that 13 out of the 19 HCPs contributed by scholars in China are published in the year of 2020 or 2021. The newly published HCPs may need more time to accumulate citations. Besides, 18 out of the 19 HCPs in China are first author and/or corresponding authors, indicating that scholars in China are becoming more independent and gaining more voice in English linguistics research.

Top 18 countries with at least 3 HCPs.

Two points should be noted here as to the productive countries. First, we calculated the HCP contributions from the country level instead of the region level. In other words, HCP contributions from different regions of the same country will be combined in the calculation. For example, HCPs from Scotland were added to the HCPs from England . HCPs from Hong Kong , Macau , and Taiwan are put together with the HCPs from Mainland China . In this way, a clear picture of the HCPs on the country level can be painted. Second, we manually checked the address information of the first author and corresponding author for each HCP. There are some cases where the first author or the corresponding author may report affiliations from more than one country. In this case, every country in their address list will be treated equally in the FA/CA calculation. In other word, a HCP may be classified into more than one country because of the different country backgrounds of the first and/or the corresponding author.

4.4. Top 20 HCPs

The top 20 HCPs with the highest normed citations are listed in decreasing order in Table 5 . The top cited publications can guide us to better understand the development and research topics in recent years.

Top 20 HCPs.

To save space, not full information about the HCPs is given. Some article titles have been abbreviated if they are too lengthy; for the authors, we report the first two authors and use “et al” if there are three authors or more; RC: raw citations; NC: normalized citations

By reading the titles and the abstracts of these top HCPs, we categorized the topics of the 20 HCPs into the following five groups: (i) statistical and analytical methods in (psycho)linguistics such as sentimental analysis, sentence simplification techniques, effect sizes, linear mixed models (#1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 14), (ii) language learning/teaching emotions such enjoyment, anxiety, boredom, stress (#11, 15, 16, 18, 19), (iii) translanguaging or multilinguilism (#5, 13, 20, 17), (iv) language perception (#2, 7, 10), (v) medium of instruction (#8, 12). It is no surprise that 6 out of the top 20 HCPs are about statistical methods in linguistics because language researchers aspire to employ statistics to make their research more scientific. Besides, we noticed that the papers on language teaching/learning emotions on the list are all published in the year of 2020 and 2021, indicating that these emerging topics may deserve more attention in future research. We also noticed two Covid-19 related articles (#16, 19) explored the emotions teachers and students experience during the pandemic, a timely response to the urgent need of the language learning and teaching community.

It is of special interest to note that papers from the journals indexed in multiple JCR categories seem to accumulate more citations. For example, Journal of Memory and Language , American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology , and Computational Linguistics are indexed both in SSCI and SCIE and contribute the top 4 HCPs, manifesting the advantage of these hybrid journals in amassing citations compared to the conventional language journals. Besides, different to findings from Yan et al. (2022) that most of the top HCPs in the field of radiology are reviews in document types, 19 out of the top 20 HCPs are research articles instead of reviews except Macaro et al. (2018) .

4.5. Most frequently explored topics of HCPs

After obtaining the corpus based topic items, we read all the titles and abstracts of the 143 HCPs to further validate their roles as research topics. Table 6 presents the top research topics with the observed frequency of 5 or above. We grouped these topics into five broad categories: bilingual-related, language learning/teaching-related, psycho/pathological/cognitive linguistics-related, methods and tools-related, and others . The observed frequency count for each topic in the abstract corpus were included in the brackets. We found that about 34 of the 143 HCPs are exploring bilingual related issues, the largest share among all the categorized topics, testifying its academic popularity in the examined timespan. Besides, 30 of the 143 HCPs are investigating language learning/teaching-related issues, with topics ranging from learners (e.g., EFL learners, individual difference) to multiple learning variables (e.g., learning strategy, motivation, agency). The findings here will be validated by the analysis of the keywords.

Categorization of the most explored research topics.

N: the number of the HCPs in each topic category; ELF: English as a lingua franca; CLIL: content and language integrated learning; FLE: foreign language enjoyment; FLCA: foreign language classroom anxiety

Several points should be mentioned regarding the topic candidacy. First, for similar topic expressions, we used a cover term and added the frequency counts. For example, multilingualism is a cover term for bilinguals, bilingualism, plurilingualism, and multilingualism . Second, for nouns of singular and plural forms (e.g., emotion and emotions ) or for items with different spellings (e.g., meta analysis and meta analyses ), we combined the frequency counts. Third, we found that some longer items (3 grams and 4 grams) could be subsumed to short ones (2 grams or monogram) without loss of essential meaning (e.g., working memory from working memory capacity ). In this case, the shorter ones were kept for their higher frequency. Fourth, some highly frequent terms were discarded because they were too general to be valuable topics in language research, for example, applied linguistics , language use , second language .

5. Discussion and implications

Based on 143 highly cited papers collected from the WoS categories of linguistics , the present study attempts to present a bird’s eye view of the publication landscape and the most updated research themes reflected from the HCPs in the linguistics field. Specifically, we investigated the important contributors of HCPs in terms of journals, authors and countries. Besides, we spotlighted the research topics by corpus-based analysis of the abstracts and a detailed analysis of the top HCPs. The study has produced several findings that bear important implications.

The first finding is that the HCPs are highly concentrated in a limited journals and countries. In regards to journals, those in the spheres of bilingualism and applied linguistics (e.g., language teaching and learning) are likely to accumulate more citations and hence to produce more HCPs. Journals that focus on bilingualism from a linguistic, psycholinguistic, and neuroscientific perspective are the most frequent outlets of HCPs as evidenced by the top two productive journals of HCPs, Bilingualism Language and Cognition and International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism . This can be explained by the multidisciplinary nature of bilingual-related research and the development of cognitive measurement techniques. The merits of analyzing publication venues of HCPs are two folds. One the one hand, it can point out which sources of high-quality publications in this field can be inquired for readers as most of the significant and cutting-edge achievements are concentrated in these prestigious journals. On the other hand, it also provides essential guidance or channels for authors or contributors to submit their works for higher visibility.

In terms of country distributions, the traditional powerhouses in linguistics research such as the USA and England are undoubtedly leading the HCP publications in both the number and the citations of the HCPs. However, developing countries are also becoming increasing prominent such as China and Iran , which could be traceable in the funding and support of national language policies and development policies as reported in recent studies ( Ping et al., 2009 ; Lei and Liu, 2019 ). Take China as an example. Along with economic development, China has given more impetus to academic outputs with increased investment in scientific research ( Lei and Liao, 2017 ). Therefore, researchers in China are highly motivated to publish papers in high-quality journals to win recognition in international academia and to deal with the publish or perish pressure ( Lee, 2014 ). These factors may explain the rise of China as a new emerging research powerhouse in both natural and social sciences, including English linguistics research.

The second finding is the multilingual trend in linguistics research. The dominant clustering of topics regarding multilingualism can be understood as a timely response to the multilingual research fever ( May, 2014 ). 34 out of the 143 HCPs have such words as bilingualism, bilingual, multilingualism , translanguaging , etc., in their titles, reflecting a strong multilingual tendency of the HCPs. Multilingual-related HCPs mainly involve three aspects: multilingualism from the perspectives of psycholinguistics and cognition (e.g., Luk et al., 2011 ; Leivada et al., 2020 ); multilingual teaching (e.g., Schissel et al., 2018 ; Ortega, 2019 ; Archila et al., 2021 ); language policies related to multilingualism (e.g., Shen and Gao, 2018 ). As a pedagogical process initially used to describe the bilingual classroom practice and also a frequently explored topic in HCPs, translanguaging is developed into an applied linguistics theory since Li’s Translanguaging as a Practical Theory of Language ( Li, 2018 ). The most common collocates of translanguaging in the Abstract corpus are pedagogy/pedagogies, practices, space/spaces . There are two main reasons for this multilingual turn. First, the rapid development of globalization, immigration, and overseas study programs greatly stimulate the use and research of multiple languages in different linguistic contexts. Second, in many non-English countries, courses are delivered through languages (mostly English) besides their mother tongue ( Clark, 2017 ). Students are required to use multiple languages as resources to learn and understand subjects and ideas. The burgeoning body of English Medium Instruction literature in higher education is in line with the rising interest in multilingualism. Due to the innate multidisciplinary nature, it is to be expected that, multilingualism, the topic du jour, is bound to attract more attention in the future.

The third finding is the application of Positive Psychology (PP) in second language acquisition (SLA), that is, the positive trend in linguistic research. In our analysis, 20 out of 143 HCPs have words or phrases such as emotions, enjoyment, boredom, anxiety , and positive psychology in their titles, which might signal a shift of interest in the psychology of language learners and teachers in different linguistic environments. Our study shows Foreign language enjoyment (FLE) is the most frequently explored emotion, followed by foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA), the learners’ metaphorical left and right feet on their journey to acquiring the foreign language ( Dewaele and MacIntyre, 2016 ). In fact, the topics of PP are not entirely new to SLA. For example, studies of language motivations, affections, and good language learners all provide roots for the emergence of PP in SLA ( Naiman, 1978 ; Gardner, 2010 ). In recent years, both research and teaching applications of PP in SLA are building rapidly, with a diversity of topics already being explored such as positive education and PP interventions. It is to be noted that SLA also feeds back on PP theories and concepts besides drawing inspirations from it, which makes it “an area rich for interdisciplinary cross-fertilization of ideas” ( Macintyre et al., 2019 ).

It should be noted that subjectivity is involved when we decide and categorize the candidate topic items based on the Abstract corpus. However, the frequency and range criteria guarantee that these items are actually more explored in multiple HCPs, thus indicating topic values for further investigation. Some high frequent n-grams are abandoned because they are too general or not meaningful topics. For example, applied linguistics is too broad to be included as most of the HCPs concern issues in this research line instead of theoretical linguistics. By meaningful topics, we mean that the topics can help journal editors and readers quickly locate their interested fields ( Lei and Liu, 2019 ), as the author keywords such as bilingualism , emotions , and individual differences . The examination of the few 3/4-grams and monograms (mostly nouns) revealed that most of them were either not meaningful topics or they could be subsumed in the 2-grams. Besides, there is inevitably some overlapping in the topic categorizations. For example, some topics in the language teaching and learning category are situated and discussed within the context of multilingualism. The merits of topic categorizations are two folds: to better monitor the overlapping between the Abstract corpus-based topic items and the keywords; to roughly delineate the research strands in the HCPs for future research.

It should also be noted that all the results were based on the retrieved HCPs only. The study did not aim to paint a comprehensive and full picture of the whole landscape of linguistic research. Rather, it specifically focused on the most popular literature in a specified timeframe, thus generating the snapshots or trends in linguistic research. One of the important merits of this methodology is that some newly emerging but highly cited researchers can be spotlighted and gain more academic attention because only the metrics of HCPs are considered in calculation. On the contrary, the exclusion of some other highly cited researchers in general such as Rod Ellis and Ken Hyland just indicates that their highly cited publications are not within our investigated timeframe and cannot be interpreted as their diminishing academic influence in the field. Besides, the study does not consider the issue of collaborators or collaborations in calculating the number of HCPs for two reasons. First, although some researchers are regular collaborators such as Li CC and Dewaele JM, their individual contribution can never be undermined. Second, the study also provides additional information about the number of the FA/CA HCPs from each listed author, which may aid readers in locating their interested research.

We acknowledge that our study has some limitations that should be addressed in future research. First, our study focuses on the HCPs extracted from WoS SSCI and A&HCI journals, the alleged most celebrated papers in this field. Future studies may consider including data from other databases such as Scopus to verify the findings of the present study. Second, our Abstract corpus-based method for topic extraction involved human judgement. Although the final list was the result of several rounds of discussions among the authors, it is difficult or even impossible to avoid subjectivity and some worthy topics may be unconsciously missed. Therefore, future research may consider employing automatic algorithms to extract topics. For example, a dependency-based machine learning approach can be used to identify research topics ( Zhu and Lei, 2021 ).

Data availability statement

Author contributions.

SY: conceptualization and methodology. SY and LZ: writing-review and editing and writing-original draft. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

This work was supported by Humanities and Social Sciences Youth Fund of China MOE under the grant 20YJC740076 and 18YJC740141.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary material

The Supplementary material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1052586/full#supplementary-material

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linguistics related research topics

Language evolution in China

The impetus behind the development of various Chinese dialects is as yet unknown. In a comprehensive quantitative coanalysis of linguistic and genetic data across China, Yang et al. find evidence to suggest that demographic diffusion, cultural diffusion and linguistic assimilation all contributed to the expansive diversity of Chinese dialects.

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Studying and improving reasoning in humans and machines

Some large language models show reasoning errors akin to humans in cognitive bias tasks. However, humans and models respond differently to prompting strategies, highlighting differences in cognitive processing.

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What difference does one course make? Assessing the impact of content-based instruction on students’ sustainability literacy

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Requests as macro-speech act motivators in Qur’anic dialogues

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Taking a longer historical view of America’s renaming moment: The role of Black onomastic activism within the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

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Is boredom a source of noise and/or a confound in behavioral science research?

Behavioral researchers tend to study behavior in highly controlled laboratory settings to minimize the effects of potential confounders. Yet, while doing so, the artificial setup itself might unintentionally introduce noise or confounders, such as boredom. In this perspective, we draw upon theoretical and empirical evidence to make the case that (a) some experimental setups are likely to induce boredom in participants, (b) the degree of boredom induced might differ between individuals as a function of differences in trait boredom, (c) boredom can impair participants’ attention, can make study participation more effortful, and can increase the urge to do something else (i.e., to disengage from the study). Most importantly, we argue that some participants might adjust their behavior because they are bored. Considering boredom’s potential for adding noise to data, or for being an unwanted confound, we discuss a set of recommendations on how to control for and deal with the occurrence and effects of boredom in behavioral science research.

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Exploration of the social and philosophical underpinning of ‘the patient’—what this means for people with a long-term condition

Should healthcare professionals use the term ‘patient’? A patient is a social construct, in a biomedical model, in which each actor has their role to play. This model has been criticised as belonging to an era of medical hegemony and (mis)represents an individual seeking healthcare as one who is simply a passive participant and recipient of care. The ‘Language Matters’ campaign, for people living with diabetes, has sought to address the role of language in interactions between healthcare providers. A key point raised in the campaign is whether someone who feels well, but has ongoing healthcare input, should be referred to as a patient? In this article, we address the concept of a patient and how its use can belie a particular mindset (or ‘discourse’) in which power is established in a relationship and can lead to individuals being defined by their condition. However, for some linguistic communities (such as nurses and doctors), a patient may be considered less as one over whom they have dominion, but rather someone for whom they have specific responsibilities and duty of care. Drawing upon the philosophical theories of language—that the meaning and inference of a word is dependent on its use—we argue that the context in which use of the term patient occurs is crucial. Without more fundamental cultural disruption of the biomedical model, word substitution, in itself, will not change perception.

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Approaching the neuroscience of language

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Neural evidence of word prediction

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55 Top-Rated Research Topics in Linguistics For an A+

Research Topics in Linguistics

The field of linguistics is one of the easiest yet challenging subjects for college and university students. Areas such as phonology, phonetics, syntax, morphology, and semantics in linguistics can keep you up all night.

That is why we came up with these quality language research topics.

What are the Linguistics Research Topics?

To understand this better, we’d have first to define the term linguistics.

  • Language in context ,
  • Language form, and
  • Language meaning.

The researcher will have to determine the interplay between sound and meaning when presented with this subject. A linguistics research paper will, therefore, deal with the following:

  • The nature of language
  • How human languages are classified
  • Tools used in language identification

Language entices researchers as it draws significant and sustained attention with the reader. With the numerous languages in the world now, you cannot miss finding an area or two to write on this topic.

However, we endeavor to make this task quick and easy for you by shooting up 55 research topics in linguistics.

How To Write Linguistic Topics For Your Dissertation

Are you having trouble coming up with a research topic for your research paper? Here are the top expert recommendations:

  • Brainstorm ideas on your own and with your friends
  • Pick a broad topic and free-write specific sub-topics on it
  • Get inspiration from other available linguistics research paper topics

After coming up with a topic that interests you, check to ensure that it meets your assignment criteria.

So let’s get started!

History of Language Research Topics

  • The contribution of Greek philosophers to language
  • Significance of the over 30,000 preserved cuneiform writings to language
  • Early speculations about the origin of language
  • The long history of language as rooted in mythology
  • Why the origin of language is an unanswerable problem
  • A critical analysis of theories that explain the origin and development of language

Argumentative College Linguistic Research Topics

  • Is language the only way we can use to communicate?
  • Does a brain injury have an impact on language?
  • Should we refer to the language as a mere system of symbols?
  • Do language disorders make it a difficult subject to study?
  • Does the mother tongue have an impact on efficient communication?
  • Should we learn two or more languages?

Linguistics Research Topics – Tough Questions

  • Why is there a similarity among many English and French words?
  • What makes people speak different languages?
  • Why does the mother tongue always interfere with one’s pronunciation?
  • What makes it possible for language translation?
  • Is sign language only a matter of making signs with the hands?
  • Why are some languages difficult to learn than others?

Sociolinguistic Research Topics

  • Social factors that necessitate language variation and varieties
  • What are the attitudes to language among different societies?
  • The relationship between language and identity
  • A critical evaluation of language and ethnicity
  • Analyzing language attrition among most English speakers
  • Distinct functions of language among different communities

Interesting Topics in Linguistics

  • Salient factors that contribute to language shift and death
  • Why nobody can claim to know a certain language in its entirety
  • Why is written communication more precise than spoken one?
  • Problems of ambiguity during language translation
  • Does language influence society, or vice versa, is it true?
  • The effectiveness of language support and subject teaching

Linguistics Paper Topics on Politics

  • Persuasive language strategies and techniques in political speeches
  • Why politicians use culturally used languages when addressing indigenous communities?
  • The place of colonial rule in African politics
  • A case study of effective political communication
  • Understanding the changing landscape of political communication
  • The use of buzz words and tag lines in political speeches

Linguistics Research Paper Topics on Semantics

  • How does meaning work in language analysis and interpretation?
  • How can the meanings of words relate to each other?
  • Ways in which sentences are related to one another
  • What causes ambiguity to arise in language?
  • How do different speakers acquire a sense of meaning?
  • A critical analysis of language use and language acquisition

Linguistic Topics on Translation

  • The role of the latest technologies in the translation industry
  • Is the translator training and pedagogy producing efficient translators?
  • Are translations the cause of misunderstanding between different languages?
  • What is the effectiveness of audiovisual translation?
  • Is literary translation causing more harm than good in communication?
  • What is the relationship between translation and popular culture?

Interesting Linguistics Topics on Language Disorders

  • Causes of receptive language disorders among children
  • Mental formation of language disorders during a child’s development
  • Symptoms of language disorder and how to deal with them
  • What is the effectiveness of psychotherapy in dealing with language disorders?
  • Why is autism spectrum disorder common among most children?
  • What causes problems with the sentence and word flow?
  • Why children of 1 and 2 years of age have trouble with p, b, m, h, and w sounds

For top grades, aim for a specific and original linguistic topic. If the task seems daunting and tedious to you, then professional thesis writing help is all you need. The service is available at cheap rates with guaranteed top quality.

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100+ Compelling Linguistics Research Topics for University Students

Linguistics Research Topics

Confused while selecting the interesting linguistics research topics to pen down your thoughts on a piece of paper? So, bounce back to this article and pick the best linguistics research paper topics and boost your grades.

Un-layering the essence of teaching-learning methodology demonstrates the development of linguistic theories. Linguistics is a science of language in which fact-finding is done through some rational and systematic study. While digging into the information about the history of linguistics, two perspectives on languages are unveiled: prescriptive and descriptive views.

The linguistic analysis uncovers the following areas: phonetics, phonology, syntax, morphology, semantics, and pragmatics. Furthermore, the scrutinization of linguistics helps you to know about every aspect of languages as well as methods for studying them.

Table of Contents

How To Choose the Right Linguistics Research Topics?

Stress work is the indication of degraded academic performance and lower grades even if we talk about a linguistics research paper. Make your every endeavor effective and energetic by applying the right strategy. Therefore, make the right selection for your academic writing that starts from the interesting topic selection in linguistics.

Moreover, take advantage of research paper help and discuss your concerns with professional writers. As a suggestion, you can choose the right linguistics research topics by keeping the following points in your mind:

Find your interest: Linguistics uncover various aspects of language learning and allow you to expand your mind capabilities. So, try to explore the depth of the subject and find your area of interest. It will make your academic writing more interesting and enthralling.

Brainstorm the ideas: Picking the interesting linguistics topics demands your knowledge and expertise. Therefore, you need to take the advantage of brainstorming and collect various ideas to explore the concept of linguistics.

Perform pensive research : When you are keen to score high marks, you need to have sufficient knowledge. Conduct insightful research and uncover the pensive ideas for your research paper topics in linguistics.

Interesting Topics in Linguistics

Linguistics is the foundation of language knowledge. Linguistics theories indeed are interrelated to learning the English language. When you have to boost your grades, your selection for linguistics research paper topics makes a huge difference.  Some of the interesting linguistics research topics are:

  • Explain the significance of music in the evolution of language.
  • Does age really impact English pronunciation?
  • What is the role of sociolinguistics education in creating discipline?
  • What is the significance of language in creating teaching methodology?
  • Analysis of verbal and written communication based on language usage.
  • Is it important to have expertise in several languages?
  • Explain the issues related to receptive language disorder and its impact on brain development.
  • How do you correlate sentence-making and word flow in linguistics?
  • Discuss the comparability between English and French languages.
  • Factors responsible for different spoken languages.
  • The impact of slang in the development of languages.
  • Is text messaging creating a revolutionary subculture in the new linguistic scenario?
  • How are linguistic patterns helpful in locating migration roadways?
  • What are factors affecting the capability of learning a language?
  • Explain the role of language in building a national identity for developing a multicultural society.
  • Digital Revolution: impact of computers in modern language
  • A systematic review on vowel pronunciation in the American Schools.
  • Significance of language in creating cross-cultural communities: A comprehensive review
  • Elucidate the impact of language on one’s perception.
  • Textual and Linguistic analysis for housing studies.

Stimulating Research Paper Topics In Sociolinguistics

While seeking linguistics research topics for your assignments or research paper, you may find sociolinguistics interesting to explore. Sociolinguistics demonstrates the impact of language on our society. When you are keen to explore the effect of language in different aspects of society (including cultural values and expectations), you need to do an in-depth analysis of sociolinguistics.

For building a good foundation on sociolinguistics, you can select the following linguistics paper topics:

  • How would you define linguistic practices in specific communities?
  • An elaborative approach for code-switching and code-mixing
  • Explain the impact of dialect on gender.
  • A correlational study to share the relationship between language, social class, and cognition.
  • In-depth study of interactional sociolinguistics in the 21st Century.
  • A comprehensive analysis on accountability and aptness of dialect.
  • Evaluate the education of language in the U.S.
  • The role of languages in controlling emotions.
  • Effectiveness of verbal communication in expressing one’s feelings: A competitive analysis.
  • A literature review on communication with a precise comparison of verbal and non-verbal communication
  • Difference between advanced placement (AP) English literature and language.
  • What is the relationship between language and one’s personality?
  • A critical analysis on the relation of language and ethnicity.
  • Describe the attitudes to various languages among societies.
  • A comprehensive approach on dialect variations in American English-speaking people.
  • Scrutinize linguistic variation on language loyalty.
  • Develop a good understanding of sociological variations to languages.
  • Impact of the generation gap on language usage.
  • Examine the impact of various factors (social tension, media, racism, and entertainment) on the utilization of languages.
  • Is there a difference between linguistic practices among men and women?

Also, Read: 150+ Business Research Topics

Interesting Research Topics in Applied Linguistics

Are you looking for linguistics research topics to advance your learning abilities? In such a case, you have to learn about “Applied Linguistics.” It is the branch of linguistics in which one can understand the practical applications of language studies such as speech therapy, language teaching, and more.

In other words, applied linguistics offers solutions to deal with language-related real-life problems. Imperative academic areas where you can find the applications of applied linguistics are psychology, education, sociology, communication research, and anthropology. Some applied linguistics research paper topics:

  • Discuss the expansion of learning a second language through reading.
  • Share your learning on the critical period hypothesis for the acquisition of the second language.
  • Impact of bilingualism on an individual’s personality.
  • Linguistics evaluation on the difference between written and spoken language.
  • Describe language cognition and perceptions in a learning process.
  • Impact of language barriers on healthcare delivery.
  • Detailed analysis on various methodologies to learn applied linguistics.
  • Discuss the relationship between empathy and language proficiency in learners of adult language.
  • Detailed analysis on multilingualism and multiculturalism.
  • Impact of extended instructions on the use of passive voices, modals, and relative clauses: A critical analysis.
  • Explain digitally-mediated collaborative writing for ESL students.
  • How do we evaluate self-efficacy in students who speak low-level English language?
  • Elucidate the significance of phrasal verbs in creating technical documents.
  • Expectations of American Students while taking Japanese language classes.
  • A detailed study on American deaf students in English as a Non-Native Language (ENNL) classes.
  • How do you understand by modeling music with Grammars?
  • The cognitive development of expertise as an ESL teacher: An insightful analysis.
  • Sound Effects: Gender, Age, and Sound symbolism in American English.
  • Importance of applied linguistics in today’s digital world.

Also, Read: Modern Literature

Interesting Research Topics in Semantics

The study of reference, meaning, and the truth is covered under semantics or semiotics, or semasiology. A comprehensive analysis of semantics reflects the essence of compositional semantics and lexical semantics.  The combination of words and their interaction to form larger experiences like sentences comes under compositional semantics. Whereas, the notion of words is shared under lexical semantics.

Some academic disciplines in linguistic semantics are conceptual semantics, cognitive semantics, formal semantics, computational semantics, and more. Linguistic research paper topics on Semantics are as follows:

  • Examine meaning work in language interpretation and scrutinization
  • A critical evaluation of language acquisition and language use.
  • Challenges in the study of semantic and pragmatic theory.
  • Discuss semantics lessons and paragraph structure in written language.
  • How do you explain the semantic richness effects in the recognition of visual words?
  • How richness of semantics affects the processing of a language.
  • Semantic generation to action-related stimuli: A neuroanatomical evaluation of embodied cognition.
  • Examine the understanding of blind children for reading phonological and tactual coding in Braille.
  • Explain a semantic typology of gradable predicates.
  • A comparison of between blind and sighted children’s memory performance: the reverse-generation effect.
  • Clinical research for designing medical decision support systems.
  • Discuss word recognition processes in blind and sighted children.
  • A corpus-based study on argumentative indicators.
  • The typology of modality in modern West Iranian languages.
  • A critical analysis on changes in naming and semantic abilities in different age groups.
  • Explain the multidimensional semantics of evaluative adverbs.
  • A comprehensive analysis on procedural meaning: problems and perspectives.
  • Cross-cultural and cross-linguistic perspectives on figurative language.
  • Elucidate semantic and pragmatic problems in discourse and dialogue.

Topics For Linguistics Essays

A curiosity of exploring the various concepts in linguistics leads you to work on essays. Projecting your thoughts in writing linguistics essays makes you understand the structure and changes in human languages. In a case, if you are searching for the best topics in linguistics, go through the following list of linguistics essays:

  • Difference between human language and artificial language.
  • Classification of writing systems based on various stages of development.
  • The laws of language development
  • Culture and language: impact on reflections.
  • Methodology of reading and writing for children by Albert James.
  • Significance of phoneme and phonological matters
  • The complexity of human language: the specific cases of the apes
  • Explain the development of languages and derivational morphology.
  • Detailed analysis on language extinction.
  • Investigate the peculiarities of English-Chinese and Chinese-English translations.
  • A comprehensive overview on the acquisition of English as a second language by Mid-Eastern students.
  • Discuss semiology in language analysis.
  • Impact of blogging on learning languages.
  • Linguistics: grammar and language teaching.
  • English Language: Explain its standard and non-standard types.
  • Discuss speech community as linguistic anthropology.
  • A systematic review on linguistic diversity in modern culture.
  • Similarities and differences between language and logic.
  • What is the impact of language on digital communication?
  • Listening comprehension: a comparative analysis of the articles.

Computational Linguistics Research Topics

Analysis and synthesis of language and speech using the techniques of computer science share the significance of computational linguistics. This branch of linguistics reflects the study of computational modeling of natural language. It also describes the computational approaches to answering the linguistic questions.

Under computational linguistics, you can explore different concepts such as artificial intelligence, mathematics, computer science, cognitive science, neuroscience, anthropology. More interesting computational linguistics research topics are:

  • Explain the factors measuring the performance of speech recognition.
  • Discuss word sense disambiguation.
  • Detailed analysis on dependency parsing based on graphs and transitions.
  • A multidimensional analysis on linguistic dimensions
  • Analyze Medieval German poetry through supervised learning.
  • Extraction of Danish verbs.
  • Analysis of Schizophrenia text dataset.
  • An intra-lingual contrastive corpus analysis based on computational linguistics.
  • Discuss various methods to introduce, create, and conclude a text.

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Top 50+ linguistics research topics for your paper.

linguistics research topics

Are you a student or a graduate of linguistics? If yes, there is no doubting the fact that research topics in linguistics are your bread and butter. You can escape them in school. Write within the confines of the topics in linguistics and get your grade without stress. However, linguistics is a wide field and it can be hard to pick one of the many linguistic topics for your research. Sometimes, the problem is not in picking a topic. The problem is that despite the wide scope of linguistics, you don’t know how to form linguistics research topics.

We noticed these problems with students and decided to help. Our solution is to compile a list of 50 linguistic research topics for linguistics students. These topics could form the basis of your linguistics research paper topics. You don’t have to worry anymore about topics for master thesis in linguistics. We have you covered for all English linguistics research topics. Let’s dive in!

Check Our 50 Linguistics Research Topics

There are linguistics research topics in abundance. If you search online, you would find more than a few examples. However, you need to know the aspect of linguistics you want to use for your linguistics paper topics. It would make no sense to have a list of thesis topics in applied linguistics and want to write on topics in cognitive linguistics. While they are all under the broad body of linguistics, they are quite different from each other.

So, the first step in finding the perfect linguistics essay topics is to choose the aspect of linguistics you want. After you have made a choice you can now look into linguistics topics in that aspect. We have made finding interesting linguistics topics in any aspect you chose easier by grouping our 50 linguistics research topics. All you have to do is search under the aspect of your choice.

Interesting Linguistics Research Topics

If you don’t only want to write a research paper but you want to find every minute of it intriguing, these interesting topics in linguistics are the ones for you.

  • What makes written communication more precise compared to spoken communication?
  • How to spot language disorders and deal with them
  • What contributes to the prevalent language shift and death in our society today?
  • The language of feminism: How formalized is it and how does it affect society?
  • Why is it impossible to claim to know a language entirely?
  • What salient factors cause ambiguity in language translation?
  • An in-depth analysis of feminism in Africa
  • Language vs Society: Which one influences the other? How does it affect the members?
  • How effective are subject teaching and language support?
  • What factors affect language choice in multilingual societies? (Study of selected communities)
  • The real functions of language

Linguistics Topics on Translation

If you want the latest research topics in applied linguistics, the topics under the following subheadings would help you. You just have to look for the aspect that you have an interest in and look at linguistics in that light.

  • How has technology affected translation at this age and time?
  • Is translation the cause of misunderstandings between speakers of different languages?
  • How effective is an audiovisual translation in revolutionizing the translation industry?
  • Does literal translation do more harm than good?
  • How has the translator training and pedagogy faired in the production of efficient translators?
  • How does translation relate to popular culture?

Translation is essential in this century with people of different languages communicating and coming together in a global economy. These topics look into the issues that translation encounter at this time.

Linguistics Topics on Politics

Politics is an ever-present phenomenon in any society. These dissertation topics in linguistics examine the issues surrounding language in the field of politics. We have explained samples of Ph.D. thesis topics in linguistics in this field.

  • The reality of hate speech in selected communities
  • The use of persuasive language strategies and tools in political speech
  • How colonial rule affected African politics and language
  • Why do politicians use indigenous languages to address communities?
  • A critical analysis of the changing political communication landscape
  • Effective political communication: A case study of selected politicians
  • How tag lines and buzz words are used to enhance political speeches

Sociolinguistics Research Topics

This aspect of linguistics examines how issues surrounding how language works in society. These research topics for English linguistics focus on how people in society use language and its effects on society.

  • What are the social factors that necessitate language varieties?
  • How does language affect identity?
  • An in-depth analysis of language attrition common to most English speakers
  • A critical evaluation of the difference in attitudes towards language in different societies
  • The differences in language functions in selected communities
  • How ethnicity affect language and vice versa

Argumentative Linguistics Research Topics

These topics in linguistics for research papers argue on issues surrounding language. You can use these topics if you want to show different sides of an argument in your research.

  • Is language the best way to communicate?
  • Can we say that language is merely a system of symbols
  • Do language disorders cause difficulties in the study of language?
  • Does brain injury lead to issues in language capacities?
  • Do mother tongue inflection and accent impact efficient communication?
  • Is it advisable to learn more than one language?

Linguistics Research Topics on History

Language was not a concept that started a few years ago. People have been communicating for centuries and centuries. These topics look at the history of language, sometimes about this age.

  • How Greek philosophy contributes to language
  • What are the early speculations scientists had about the origin of language?
  • Analysis of the history of language as explained in mythology
  • How do the 3,000 preserved cuneiform writings affect language?
  • A critical evaluation of different theories on the origin and development of language
  • Why has the question of language origin remained unanswerable?

Linguistics Research Topics on Semantics

Language is nothing without meaning. These interesting linguistic topics show how meaning and language mix and relate. You can research any one of these topics to understand how this field.

  • How does meaning affect language analysis and interpretation?
  • What is the major cause of language ambiguity?
  • How do sentences relate to one another?
  • How do speakers of different languages acquire a sense of meaning in conversation?
  • How can the meaning of words relate?
  • An in-depth analysis into how language is used and acquired in different communities

Tough Linguistics Research Topics

Do all the topics above seem too easy for you? Do you want something more challenging? We have a few topics for you. These topics would give you that challenge you want. Ensure that you do enough research on topics before you embark on them.

  • Why do people speak different languages?
  • What makes language translation possible?
  • What makes some languages harder to learn than others?
  • Why are English and French words similar?
  • Why does the mother tongue always affect pronunciation?
  • Does sign language only involve the hands?

How to Choose A Perfect Linguistics Topic for You

There are different aspects of linguistics. If you check online, you would find linguistic anthropology research topics, computational linguistics research topics, and much more. However, not all these aspects of linguistics would be perfect for your dissertation or thesis.

In selecting or creating the perfect linguistic topic for you, here are some of the tips from our experts in paper writing you should take into consideration.

  • Pick an aspect that interest you . Linguistics apply to different walks of life. Therefore, there are varied topics for your linguistics research. It can make choosing a topic quite stressful. What you do is find what interests you and find topics in that aspect. Start by looking for a broad aspect then narrow it down to a part of the field. For instance, you can start with applied linguistics and move on to linguistics in politics.
  • Brainstorm with friends . After you have chosen the aspect you like, you can pick a list of topics in linguistics for research papers and bounce off ideas from the topics with your friends. You can even write out your ideas from your brainstorming and ask your friends what they think about them. The topic that you notice that you and your friends keep going back to is possibly the best one for you. If you find a lot of things to talk about it, you would possibly find a lot of things to write about it.
  • Research the topics . Talk is cheap though. If you want to write on a topic, ensure that there are enough materials to support your claims. After you and your friends decide on a topic, research the topic before you start writing. Once you find that there are enough materials, you can start.

Linguistics has different aspects. If you check online and on our list, you would find different topics in these aspects, including topics related to linguistic diversity. Follow our guide and list to find the best linguistic topic for you!

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Fields of Interest

The Linguistics Department's primary areas of interest lie strongly in grammatical theory, which can be broken down roughly into syntax , phonology , and semantics . Individual faculty members also specialize in phonetics , sociolinguistics , computational linguistics , and second language acquisition theory . Other faculty interests include research into the history of linguistics as an academic discipline, mathematical linguistics, and language typology.

Languages of faculty research include Spanish, French, Korean, Japanese, Greek, Jamaican Creole, Arabic, Siswati, Sandawe, Cherokee, Swahili, Slavic languages, Austronesian languages of Taiwan, the Athabaskan languages, and Sahaptin. Information is also available about the interests of individual faculty members.

In addition, the department often collaborates with other departments such as Speech and Hearing Sciences , Anthropology , Philosophy , Psychology , and Computer Science to expand its course offerings.

Our primary areas of research interest are described below, in alphabetical order.

Computational Linguistics

The department is currently building up a program in computational linguistics. Current areas of interest include grammar engineering, building computational tools for the documentation of underdescribed languages, and Natural Language Processing in general. UW linguistics students also have opportunities to work with faculty in EE, CS and the Information School on research in machine translation, speech recognition, and biomedical informatics, among others.

First Language Acquisition

Language acquisition researchers at UW Linguistics investigate how children acquire linguistic structures of their native language(s). We aim to shed light on a) how language experience, learning biases and cognitive maturation interact in the course of grammatical development, and b) how children learn to use their knowledge in real-time comprehension and production. To this end, we investigate children's linguistic knowledge as well as use of that knowledge through a variety of behavioral tasks and eye-tracking technique, as well as cross-linguistic comparisons.

We are interested in a broad range of theoretical and practical issues in articulatory and acoustic phonetics. Some issues include speech perception and spoken word processing, gestural timing, and the role of phonetic explanation in phonological theory. Other phonetic research include acoustic and articulatory description of spoken language.

The Department's phonologists concern themselves with aspects of modern generative phonology. Of primary interest is the phonology-morphology interface as characterized by prosodic morphology and lexical phonology, as well as the phonology-syntax interface and theories of phonological change over time. Faculty interests also include research in metrical phonology, feature geometry, and the phonetics-phonology interface.

Second Language Acquisition

Faculty members research the cognitive mechanisms underlying the acquisition of second language. Questions taken on include whether second language acquisition parallels first in crucial ways, and the extent to which it is governed by principles of universal grammar.

We are mainly concerned with formal semantics, which analyzes the semantics of natural language in terms of mathematical concepts such as set and function. Also of interest are such topics as the relation between syntax and semantics, the semantics of non-European languages, and the relation between formal semantics and so-called lexical semantics.

Sentence Processing

Language comprehension and production is often fast, accurate and effortless, despite the fact that it requires listeners and speakers to assign rich linguistic representations in a few hundred milliseconds. Psycholinguists at UW Linguistics investigate how language processing mechanisms compute rich syntactic representations in real-time comprehension, and how this process is supported by cognitive mechanisms such as working memory and executive function. One unique feature of the UW sentence processing group is the emphasis on the developmental approach: developmental changes in sentence processing could reveal core properties of adult sentence processing mechanisms that may not be readily observable in adults' efficient processing systems.

Sociolinguistics

We are interested in a broad range of issues pertaining to language in society, particularly social variation in the grammars and lexicons of languages and dialects. Faculty also study nonstandard language, diglossia, pidgins and creoles, and gender differences in speech.

Several faculty members in the Department work in the area of syntactic theory. All such research takes place within the generative tradition, which, broadly characterized, sees grammars as formal cognitive systems. In addition to syntax per se, UW linguists have made many contributions to the understanding of the interface between syntax and other levels of grammar, in particular phonology, morphology, semantics, and discourse.

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100+ Linguistic Topics for Excellent Research Papers

13 December, 2021

12 minutes read

Author:  Donna Moores

Linguistics is an English language category that deals with logical dialectal analysis and interpretation. It seeks to reveal the form, meaning, and context of language. While most college students may perceive linguistics as a simple subject, it is pretty complex. English tutors might issue topics in linguistics in various disciplines like phonology or semantics, which leaves many learners grappling to tackle the research papers.

linguistic topics

When analyzing language, you should write a paper that clarifies the nature, classification, and proper identification tools. Therefore, your linguistics topics must be relevant and within the research purpose. It is essential to pick an appropriate topic to allow the audience to understand the fundamental research.

With numerous dialects across the globe, identifying a worthy topic should be a simple task. We have compiled lists of engaging topic ideas to help you craft an outstanding research paper and inspire your academic projects.

Linguistics Research Paper: Definition, Explanation, Examples

Any linguistics paper should comprise an in-depth analysis of language development and acquisition. The subject explores various aspects of different dialects and their meanings. It also covers style and form to develop comprehensive arguments under various contexts.

That is why English professors test students with various academic projects to measure their comprehension levels. Thus, learners should ensure they select good linguistics research paper topics. Here is an overview example of the paper structure.

Introduction

  • Background information.
  • Hypothesis.
  • Literature review.

Methodology

  • Data sources.
  • Data organization.
  • Analysis/Findings.
  • Paraphrase hypothesis.
  • Significance of the study.
  • Recommendations.

Therefore, ensure your paper meets the specified academic standards. You must read the requirements keenly to craft an outstanding paper that meets the tutor’s expectations. If you encounter challenges, you can research further online or seek clarification from your professor to know how you will approach the research question.

Choosing A Good Linguistic Topic Isn’t Hard – Here’s How To Do It

Struggling to pick a relevant topic for your research paper? Fret not. We will help you understand the steps to identify an appropriate topic. Most students often underestimate the significance of the pre-writing stages, which entails topic selection. It is a vital phase where you need to choose relevant linguistics topics for your research paper. Hence, ensure you read the research question carefully to understand its requirements.

Carry out an extensive brainstorming session to identify relatable themes within the subject area. Avoid selecting a broad theme, but if you do, break it into minor sub-topics. This will help you during the research phase to get adequate information. Use different websites to get verifiable academic sources and published papers from reputable scholars.

Don’t forget to make your linguistics research paper topics catchy and exciting to capture your readers’ attention. No one wants to read a dull paper.

Finally, follow all the academic requirements for research paper writing – proper grammar, style, correct citation, etc. College tutors often award well-written, original papers.

However, if you still find it challenging to move beyond topic selection, you can reach out to one of our subject-oriented experts for assistance.

We are here to offer the following:

  • Quality-approved papers.
  • 100% authentic papers.
  • One-on-one personalized learning.
  • Efficient support services.
  • Complete confidentiality and data privacy.

Therefore, do not endure the academic pressure alone. Talk to us we will help you select unique linguistic research topics.

Top 15 Brilliant Psycholinguistics Topics

Psycholinguistics deals with language development and acquisition. Below is a compilation of brilliant linguistics paper topics to inspire your essay compositions.

  • The significance of learning many languages as a young child.
  • The importance of music in language development.
  • An analysis of how language forms cross-cultural ties.
  • Why you should learn the art of body language.
  • What is hate speech? Is it self-taught:
  • The impact of speech on human character.
  • Linguistic patterns: A study of tracking migration routes.
  • The impact of technology on linguistics.
  • A comparative analysis of non-verbal communication.
  • Discuss how children get impressive language skills.
  • Compare and contrast verbal and non-verbal communication.
  • Discuss the different stages in dialect acquisition.
  • The influence of linguistic ethics in evoking mass emotions.
  • Effective language use improves an individual’s personality: Discuss.
  • An analysis of learning mechanisms in a foreign dialect.

15 Interesting Sociolinguistics Topic Ideas

Need help with your sociolinguistics research paper? Here are interesting topics in linguistics to jumpstart your writing.

  • An in-depth theoretical analysis of language development.
  • Explore dialect as a communication tool.
  • How brain injuries influence language and speech.
  • Language is a symbolic system: Discuss.
  • Examine the different linguistic disorders and challenges.
  • The impact of mother tongue on effective communication.
  • The importance of learning more than one dialect.
  • Evaluate mother tongue pronunciation and language fluency.
  • Compare and contrast the English and French languages.
  • Why do people communicate in different languages?
  • The role of Greek philosophers in language formation.
  • Language origination as an unfathomable issue.
  • Discuss language as a national identity in a multicultural nation.
  • Is there a difference between adult and child language acquisition?
  • Discuss the challenges in language development.

15 Good Applied Linguistics Topics

Applied linguistics is an essential discipline that allows learners to comprehend effective communication. Below are interesting linguistics topics to help you during writing.

  • What is applied linguistics?
  • Evaluate applied linguistics in a technological environment.
  • Discuss the intricacies of spoken and written language.
  • Explore bilingualism and multilingualism.
  • An analysis of communication barriers in delivering health services.
  • The influence of identity in a multicultural society.
  • Discuss dialect barriers in social media networks.
  • An in-depth analysis of hate speech.
  • The importance of applied linguistics development.
  • The adverse effects of social media on effective communication.
  • The impact of culture on multilingualism.
  • An in-depth evaluation of applied linguistics.
  • The influence of politics on linguistic media.
  • An analysis of practical research methods on linguistics.
  • How bilingualism enhances human personality.

15 Computational Linguistics Research Paper Topics

Computational linguistics involves technology in translation and other language-enhancing tools. Below are compelling linguistics thesis topics for your research compositions.

  • What is computational linguistics?
  • The impact of technology in speech recognition.
  • The evolution of the translation industry in enhancing communication.
  • Does translation cause communication barriers?
  • An analysis of audiovisual translation.
  • Discuss the effectiveness of supervised learning.
  • An analysis of effective programs for phonetic comparison of dialects.
  • Speech recognition: description of dialect performance.
  • An analysis of linguistic dimensions using technology.
  • Effective methods of text extraction.
  • Discuss the reasons for learning computational linguistics.
  • The influence of modern communication on computational linguistics.
  • Discuss the different approaches to effective learning.
  • An analysis of speech synthesis.
  • Discuss the benefits of machine translation.

15 Engaging Comparative Linguistics Research Paper Topics

Looking for winning research topics in linguistics? Search no more. Here are impressive comparative topic ideas for your research compositions:

  • Compare and contrast English and Latin.
  • A comparative study of speech physiology and anatomy.
  • An evaluation of the Ape language.
  • What is folk speech?
  • An analysis of historical linguistics.
  • An in-depth study of ethnographic semantics.
  • The connection between culture and linguistics.
  • A comparative analysis of phonetics in linguistics.
  • The influence of computers on dialect development.
  • Analyze communication in a paralinguistic dialect.
  • English popularity: A comparative study of the world.
  • Does accent fluency boost effective communication?
  • Neologism: An analysis of UK English.
  • Discuss the idioms of Australian English compared to American.
  • A comparative study of the Anglo-Saxon dialects.

15 Interesting Historical Linguistics Topic Ideas

Let us explore historical linguistics essay topics that will translate into remarkable papers with impressive literary arguments.

  • Discuss the significance of the Greek philosophers in language development.
  • An analysis of the preserved cuneiform writings.
  • Evaluate the origin of language theories.
  • Discuss the history of language in mythology.
  • An analysis of language translation.
  • A critical analysis of language development.
  • How speech impacts human interaction.
  • An analysis of modern communication evolution.
  • Discuss the history of written communication.
  • Analyze the different linguistics theories.
  • Why some dialects are challenging to learn.
  • What is structuralism in linguistics?
  • The effectiveness of mother tongue in linguistics.
  • The ancient relationship between French and English.
  • Is English considered indigenous?

15 Compelling Stylistics Linguistics Research Paper Topics

The following are interesting linguistics topics to help in crafting unique research papers. Peruse and pick one that suits your paper’s requirements.

  • Analyze the stylistic features of a business letter.
  • A comparative study of newspaper advertisement style.
  • An analysis of public speeches style
  • The forms and function of legal documents.
  • Discuss the functions of different newspaper genres.
  • The influence of ethnicity on linguistics.
  • Explore the effectiveness of spoken vs. written communication.
  • How effective is language translation?
  • Persuasive linguistics: An analysis of different strategies in politics.
  • The pros and cons of colonialism and the effects on African languages.
  • Discuss practical strategies for language acquisition.
  • Evaluate the social factors impacting language variation.
  • Discuss the various attitudes in society to language.
  • The impact of language on cultural identity.
  • The role of linguistics in different communities.

linguistics research topics

Having Problems with Your Paper? Our Experts Are Available 24/7

Research paper writing requires dedication in terms of time and effort. Most learners get stuck because of a lack of time and complex topics to handle. But with the correct strategy, you can simplify the entire composition. Let us look at some of the tips and tricks to help you compose an exceptional paper.

Read the essay prompt carefully

Take adequate time to acquaint yourself with the research prompt. What does your tutor expect from you? Read the assignment carefully before moving ahead with the research writing.

Choose a topic

Identify an appropriate topic through an extensive brainstorming exercise. It is pretty simple once you have the required themes in place.

Conduct comprehensive research

Carry out intense research on the topic you have selecting taking careful consideration about the relevant information. Use multiple trusted sources to extract adequate research content regarding the theme.

Develop a thesis

Organize your research and develop a powerful thesis statement. It gives your target audience an idea of the paper’s direction.

Design an outline

As per your paper requirements, design an appropriate outline that captures your entire research logically. Include an introduction, main body, and conclusion.

Writing process

Finally, start writing and make sure your arguments flow logically and clearly without any vague explanation in each paragraph.

Thorough editing and proofreading

Edit your work thoroughly and proofread for errors. Make sure it follows all the academic standard rules before turning in the paper to your tutor.

Need help with your research paper? Relax and let our qualified experts assist you in getting top-notch results. There is no need to struggle alone when our writers are available 24/7, ready to provide professional writing help. We have a team of skilled experts who are highly knowledgeable in diverse disciplines. Moreover, you will enjoy a personalized learning experience with our pro essay writers .

Whether you need help choosing linguistics anthropology research topics or composing the entire research paper, we have you covered in all aspects. No matter how complex the topic is, our experts will pull all-nighters to ensure you get your paper on time.

We are a reliable service that puts the interests of customers first. From having speedy client support to prompt deliveries, you can be sure of enjoying top-of-the-range services. We do not gamble with your academics, and that is why we promise our clients original research papers.

Therefore, contact us with detailed information about the writing service you need. Talk to us and improve your academic performance within no time.

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25+ Research Ideas in Linguistics You Can Explore as a High Schooler

Research is an invaluable asset in shaping your academic journey, especially for high school students aiming to stand out in college applications. You’ll demonstrate your expertise in an advanced academic topic and ability to create a self-driven project with meaningful analytical methods and findings.

If you have an inclination towards language and communication, exploring the diverse realm of linguistics through research offers a unique path to show interdisciplinary skill across STEM, social sciences, and the humanities. Linguistics extends into disciplines such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, and computer science, opening doors to multifaceted research not restricted to a single field . Though university-level linguistics research in linguistics can require a high level of expertise, there are many approachable research topics to demonstrate your passion for the field. 

Let's explore what makes a compelling research topic in linguistics and present 25 intriguing research ideas that might captivate and inspire your linguistic journey.

Historical Linguistics

Fascinated by the evolution of languages through time? Historical linguistics explores the changes languages undergo over centuries. It delves into reconstructing ancient languages, tracking phonological shifts, and uncovering how vocabularies transform. Here are potential research topics in historical linguistics to explore the intricate journeys languages take across history.

Language Shift and Endangerment in Indigenous Communities:  Studying the factors leading to language shift and endangerment in indigenous communities, exploring sociocultural, political, and historical reasons behind language decline.

Proto-Language Reconstruction of a Language Family:  Investigating the common linguistic features among related languages to reconstruct their hypothetical ancestral language, exploring the phonological, morphological, and syntactic traits.

Diachronic Analysis of Sound Changes in a Language:  Tracking the evolution of phonological features across different historical stages of a language family, identifying systematic sound changes.

Morphosyntactic Changes in Historical Texts: Investigating the evolution of grammatical structures and syntactic patterns in historical texts, tracing changes in sentence construction and morphological rules over time.

Linguistic Evolution in Colonized Regions:  Studying the linguistic impact of colonization on indigenous languages, examining how contact with colonial languages has influenced vocabulary, grammar, and language structure over time.

Ever wondered how words are formed and structured? Morphology is the study of word formation and structure within languages.  It dissects how affixes, roots, and compounds create meaning. Exploring topics in morphology unveils the intricate construction of words and their variation between communities, age groups, and languages.

6. Reduplication Patterns in Child Language Development:  Investigating the role and prevalence of reduplication (repeating a word or part of a word) in early language acquisition among toddlers.

7. Compounding in Technical Jargon:  Analyzing how technical fields create new compound words to convey complex concepts and whether these compounds follow specific morphological rules.

8. Derivational Morphology in Slang:  Exploring how slang evolves through the addition of affixes and changes in word forms to convey nuanced meanings in digital communication.

9. Morphological Adaptation in Loanword Integration:  Studying how borrowed words from one language adapt morphologically in another language, especially in terms of affixation and derivation.

10. Diminutives in Children's Speech Development:  Investigating the role and frequency of diminutive forms (such as "-ie" or "-y" endings) in early language acquisition and their impact on language development.

Phonetics and Phonology

Intrigued by the sounds and rhythms of speech? Phonetics studies the physical aspects of speech sounds, while phonology examines how these sounds function within a language's structure. Delving into these areas opens doors to understanding accent variations, sound symbolism, and the intricate rules governing speech patterns.

11. Mimicry and Accent Acquisition:  Investigating how people acquire new accents, examining the effects of exposure duration and social context.

12. Regional dialectal variation: Analyzing pronunciation differences and their development across dialects and the phonological patterns they demonstrate. 

13. Speech Therapy Techniques: Studying effective methods to improve speech impediments, such as articulation exercises or technology-assisted interventions

14. Tonal Patterns in Song Lyrics: Analyzing the use of tone and intonation in lyrics across different music genres to understand how tonal patterns contribute to artistic expression and emotional conveyance.

15. Vowel Reduction in Rapid Speech:  Investigating how vowel reduction occurs in fast-paced speech, particularly in conversational settings, and its impact on overall speech intelligibility.

Psycholinguistics

Interested in how the mind processes language? Psycholinguistics delves into the cognitive mechanisms behind language acquisition, comprehension, and production. It explores how memory, emotions, and perception influence language , offering insights into bilingualism, language development, and more.

16. Language Processing in Bilingual Individuals:  Studying cognitive disparities and variations in speech production and comprehension between the languages of bilingual individuals.

17. Syntactic Error Analysis in Second Language Acquisition:  Examining common mistakes in word ordering and/or sentence formation while learning a new language.

18 . Language and Emotion : Identifying specific linguistic elements, such as tone, lexical choice, or syntactic structures, that influence how emotions are understood and/or expressed in communication. 

19. Speech Perception and Cognitive Load:  Analyzing how external distractions affect the ability to comprehend and/or retain speech information.

20 . Language Development in Children: Studying the milestones and patterns in children’s language acquisition during early developmental stages.

Sociolinguistics

Curious about how language shapes and reflects society? Sociolinguistics explores the interplay between language and social dynamics. It uncovers how language choices signify social identities and how linguistic variations emerge  within communities.

21. Code-Switching Among Peers:  Analyzing why and how individuals switch between languages in conversation, and the contexts in which code-switching occurs most frequently.

22. Perception of Languages and Their Speakers:  Investigating how language biases and stereotypes influence perceptions of different languages and their speakers.

23. Internet Language and Communication: Examining the usage and familiarity of linguistic elements in online communication among different age groups.

24. Linguistic Markers of Identity and Community Membership:  Analyzing how linguistic features and vocabulary are utilized to signify identity traits such as race, class, gender, or sexuality within communities.

25. Language and Workplace Dynamics: Investigating how linguistic choices and communication styles influence workplace interactions and professional relationships, hierarchies, and collaboration among employees.

Suggested by Lumiere member from Princeton University.

One other option – Lumiere Research Scholar Program

If you are interested in doing university-level research in linguistics, then you could also consider applying to the   Lumiere Research Scholar Program , a selective online high school program for students that I founded with researchers at Harvard and Oxford. Last year, we had over 4000 students apply for 500 spots in the program! You can find the   application form   here.

Also check out the Lumiere Research Inclusion Foundation , a non-profit research program for talented, low-income students.

Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.

Image Source: Unsplash

  • research ideas

Opmerkingen

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

This article is part of the research topic.

Methods in Speech and Language: 2023

A Mapping-Knowledge-Domain Analysis of ERP Research on Language Processing Provisionally Accepted

  • 1 Institute of Foreign Literature and Culture, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, China
  • 2 Center for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

The event-related potentials (ERPs) technique represents a newly developed methodology in cognitive neuroscience and has significantly extended the scope of linguistic studies, offering valuable insights into cognitive processes related to language. While extant literature reviews have addressed specific facets of ERP research on language processing, a comprehensive overview of this domain remains notably absent. This study aims to fill this gap by pioneering a mapping-knowledge-domain analysis of ERP research on language processing using Citespace, a visualized bibliometric software. The current study conducted a meticulous survey and evaluation of relevant literature extracted from the Web of Science core collection. Initially, this study outlines the spatial-temporal distribution within this domain. Subsequently, employing document co-citation analysis, keyword co-occurrence analysis, cluster analysis, and burst detection analysis, this study delved deeper into the research landscape. Findings reveal that key areas in ERP research on language processing predominantly focus on sentence comprehension, reading comprehension, and mismatch negativity, with notable emphasis on topics such as speech perception, temporal dynamics, and working memory. The current study advocates for future investigations to concentrate on larger linguistic units, explore the integration of ERP components and their functional significance, and scrutinize individual differences among participants. These directions are imperative for advancing the understanding of language processing mechanisms.

Keywords: ERPs, Language, Systematic review, Citespace, Bibliometrics

Received: 08 Dec 2023; Accepted: 30 May 2024.

Copyright: © 2024 Sun and Luo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: PhD. Xiaoyang Luo, Center for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China

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Is your coffee 'not hot' or 'cold'? Observing how the brain processes negated adjectives

by Public Library of Science

Is your coffee 'not hot' or 'cold'? Observing how the brain processes negated adjectives

Negating an adjective by placing 'not' in front of it affects the way our brains interpret its meaning, mitigating but not entirely inverting our interpretation of its definition. In a study published in the open-access journal PLOS Biology , Arianna Zuanazzi at New York University, US, and colleagues offer insight into how the brain represents changes of meaning over time and offer new methods for further linguistic research.

The way the brain processes negated adjectives—'not bad' or 'not good'—is not understood. Previous studies suggest that negated phrases are processed more slowly and with more errors than their affirmative counterparts. Cutting-edge artificial neural networks appear to be largely insensitive to the contextual impacts of negation, leading many researchers to wonder how negation operates.

In lab-based experiments, 78 participants were asked to read affirmative or negated adjective phrases, good/bad, not good/not bad, happy/sad, not happy/not sad etc. on a screen and rate their meaning on a scale of one (really really bad/really really sad) to 10 (really really good/really really happy).

Answers took longer for negated adjectives and interpreted meaning was more varied. Cursor tracking showed that people are slower to interpret them, first understanding them to be affirmative before modifying towards their opposite meaning.

In a second experiment, participants rated affirmative or negated phrases on a scale. Meanwhile, magnetic fields generated by the electrical activity of their brains were captured by magnetoencephalography (MEG).

Zuanazzi and colleagues again saw slower reaction times for negated adjectives. The brain activity shows that initial interpretations and early neural representations of negated adjectives are similar to that of affirmative adjectives, but are weakened, backing up the previous suggestion of a mitigated effect.

The analysis contributes to the debate as to how negation operates. The ability to characterize the subtle changes of linguistic meaning through negation in the brain using imaging methods could help to tease apart understanding of other linguistic processes beyond the sum of the processing of individual word meanings.

The authors add, "The study of negation offers a compelling linguistic framework to understand how the human brain builds meaning through combinatoric processes. Our time-resolved behavioral and neurophysiological data show that, in a sentence like 'your coffee is not hot,' negation ('not') mitigates rather than inverts the representations of a scalar adjective ('hot'). In other words, negation reduces the temperature of your coffee, though it does not make it cold."

Journal information: PLoS Biology

Provided by Public Library of Science

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Modular, scalable hardware architecture for a quantum computer

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Quantum computers hold the promise of being able to quickly solve extremely complex problems that might take the world’s most powerful supercomputer decades to crack.

But achieving that performance involves building a system with millions of interconnected building blocks called qubits. Making and controlling so many qubits in a hardware architecture is an enormous challenge that scientists around the world are striving to meet.

Toward this goal, researchers at MIT and MITRE have demonstrated a scalable, modular hardware platform that integrates thousands of interconnected qubits onto a customized integrated circuit. This “quantum-system-on-chip” (QSoC) architecture enables the researchers to precisely tune and control a dense array of qubits. Multiple chips could be connected using optical networking to create a large-scale quantum communication network.

By tuning qubits across 11 frequency channels, this QSoC architecture allows for a new proposed protocol of “entanglement multiplexing” for large-scale quantum computing.

The team spent years perfecting an intricate process for manufacturing two-dimensional arrays of atom-sized qubit microchiplets and transferring thousands of them onto a carefully prepared complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) chip. This transfer can be performed in a single step.

“We will need a large number of qubits, and great control over them, to really leverage the power of a quantum system and make it useful. We are proposing a brand new architecture and a fabrication technology that can support the scalability requirements of a hardware system for a quantum computer,” says Linsen Li, an electrical engineering and computer science (EECS) graduate student and lead author of a paper on this architecture.

Li’s co-authors include Ruonan Han, an associate professor in EECS, leader of the Terahertz Integrated Electronics Group, and member of the Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE); senior author Dirk Englund, professor of EECS, principal investigator of the Quantum Photonics and Artificial Intelligence Group and of RLE; as well as others at MIT, Cornell University, the Delft Institute of Technology, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, and the MITRE Corporation. The paper appears today in Nature .

Diamond microchiplets

While there are many types of qubits, the researchers chose to use diamond color centers because of their scalability advantages. They previously used such qubits to produce integrated quantum chips with photonic circuitry.

Qubits made from diamond color centers are “artificial atoms” that carry quantum information. Because diamond color centers are solid-state systems, the qubit manufacturing is compatible with modern semiconductor fabrication processes. They are also compact and have relatively long coherence times, which refers to the amount of time a qubit’s state remains stable, due to the clean environment provided by the diamond material.

In addition, diamond color centers have photonic interfaces which allows them to be remotely entangled, or connected, with other qubits that aren’t adjacent to them.

“The conventional assumption in the field is that the inhomogeneity of the diamond color center is a drawback compared to identical quantum memory like ions and neutral atoms. However, we turn this challenge into an advantage by embracing the diversity of the artificial atoms: Each atom has its own spectral frequency. This allows us to communicate with individual atoms by voltage tuning them into resonance with a laser, much like tuning the dial on a tiny radio,” says Englund.

This is especially difficult because the researchers must achieve this at a large scale to compensate for the qubit inhomogeneity in a large system.

To communicate across qubits, they need to have multiple such “quantum radios” dialed into the same channel. Achieving this condition becomes near-certain when scaling to thousands of qubits. To this end, the researchers surmounted that challenge by integrating a large array of diamond color center qubits onto a CMOS chip which provides the control dials. The chip can be incorporated with built-in digital logic that rapidly and automatically reconfigures the voltages, enabling the qubits to reach full connectivity.

“This compensates for the in-homogenous nature of the system. With the CMOS platform, we can quickly and dynamically tune all the qubit frequencies,” Li explains.

Lock-and-release fabrication

To build this QSoC, the researchers developed a fabrication process to transfer diamond color center “microchiplets” onto a CMOS backplane at a large scale.

They started by fabricating an array of diamond color center microchiplets from a solid block of diamond. They also designed and fabricated nanoscale optical antennas that enable more efficient collection of the photons emitted by these color center qubits in free space.

Then, they designed and mapped out the chip from the semiconductor foundry. Working in the MIT.nano cleanroom, they post-processed a CMOS chip to add microscale sockets that match up with the diamond microchiplet array.

They built an in-house transfer setup in the lab and applied a lock-and-release process to integrate the two layers by locking the diamond microchiplets into the sockets on the CMOS chip. Since the diamond microchiplets are weakly bonded to the diamond surface, when they release the bulk diamond horizontally, the microchiplets stay in the sockets.

“Because we can control the fabrication of both the diamond and the CMOS chip, we can make a complementary pattern. In this way, we can transfer thousands of diamond chiplets into their corresponding sockets all at the same time,” Li says.

The researchers demonstrated a 500-micron by 500-micron area transfer for an array with 1,024 diamond nanoantennas, but they could use larger diamond arrays and a larger CMOS chip to further scale up the system. In fact, they found that with more qubits, tuning the frequencies actually requires less voltage for this architecture.

“In this case, if you have more qubits, our architecture will work even better,” Li says.

The team tested many nanostructures before they determined the ideal microchiplet array for the lock-and-release process. However, making quantum microchiplets is no easy task, and the process took years to perfect.

“We have iterated and developed the recipe to fabricate these diamond nanostructures in MIT cleanroom, but it is a very complicated process. It took 19 steps of nanofabrication to get the diamond quantum microchiplets, and the steps were not straightforward,” he adds.

Alongside their QSoC, the researchers developed an approach to characterize the system and measure its performance on a large scale. To do this, they built a custom cryo-optical metrology setup.

Using this technique, they demonstrated an entire chip with over 4,000 qubits that could be tuned to the same frequency while maintaining their spin and optical properties. They also built a digital twin simulation that connects the experiment with digitized modeling, which helps them understand the root causes of the observed phenomenon and determine how to efficiently implement the architecture.

In the future, the researchers could boost the performance of their system by refining the materials they used to make qubits or developing more precise control processes. They could also apply this architecture to other solid-state quantum systems.

This work was supported by the MITRE Corporation Quantum Moonshot Program, the U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. Army Research Office, the Center for Quantum Networks, and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program.

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This graphic depicts a stylized rendering of the quantum photonic chip and its assembly process. The bottom half of the image shows a functioning quantum micro-chiplet (QMC), which emits single-photon pulses that are routed and manipulated on a photonic integrated circuit (PIC). The top half of the image shows how this chip is made: Diamond QMCs are fabricated separately and then transferred into ...

Scaling up the quantum chip

MIT researchers have fabricated a diamond-based quantum sensor on a silicon chip using traditional fabrication techniques (pictured), which could enable low-cost quantum hardware.

Quantum sensing on a chip

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Toward mass-producible quantum computers

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  • The State of the American Middle Class

Who is in it and key trends from 1970 to 2023

Table of contents.

  • Acknowledgments

This report examines key changes in the economic status of the American middle class from 1970 to 2023 and its demographic attributes in 2022. The historical analysis is based on U.S. Census Bureau data from the Annual Social and Economic Supplements (ASEC) of the Current Population Survey (CPS). The demographic analysis is based on data from the American Community Survey (ACS). The data is sourced from IPUMS CPS and IPUMS USA , respectively.  

The CPS, a survey of about 60,000 households, is the U.S. government’s official source for monthly estimates of unemployment . The CPS ASEC, conducted in March each year, is the official source of U.S. government estimates of income and poverty . Our analysis of CPS data starts with the 1971 CPS ASEC, which records the incomes of households in 1970. It is also the first year for which data on race and ethnicity is available. The latest available CPS ASEC file is for 2023, which reports on household incomes in 2022.

The public-use version of the ACS is a 1% sample of the U.S. population, or more than 3 million people. This allows for a detailed study of the demographic characteristics of the middle class, including its status in U.S. metropolitan areas. But ACS data is available only from 2005 onward and is less suitable for long-term historical analyses. The latest available ACS data is for 2022.

Middle-income households are defined as those with an income that is two-thirds to double that of the U.S. median household income, after incomes have been adjusted for household size. Lower-income households have incomes less than two-thirds of the median, and upper-income households have incomes that are more than double the median. When using American Community Survey (ACS) data, incomes are also adjusted for cost of living in the areas in which households are located.

Estimates of household income are scaled to reflect a household size of three and expressed in 2023 dollars. In the Current Population Survey (CPS), household income refers to the calendar year prior to the survey year. Thus, the income data in the report refers to the 1970-2022 period, and the share of Americans in each income tier from the CPS refers to the 1971-2023 period.

The demographic attributes of Americans living in lower-, middle- or upper-income tiers are derived from ACS data. Except as noted, estimates pertain to the U.S. household population, excluding people living in group quarters.

The terms middle class and middle income are used interchangeably in this report.

White, Black, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander include people who identified with a single major racial group and who are not Hispanic. Multiracial includes people who identified with more than one major racial group and are not Hispanic. Hispanics are of any race.

U.S. born refers to individuals who are U.S. citizens at birth, including people born in the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories, as well as those born elsewhere to at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen. The terms foreign born and immigrant are used interchangeably in this report. They refer to people who are not U.S. citizens at birth.

Occupations describe the broad kinds of work people do on their job. For example, health care occupations include doctors, nurses, pharmacists and others who are directly engaged in the provision of health care. Industries describe the broad type of products companies produce. Each industry encompasses a variety of occupations. For example, the health care and social assistance industry provides services that are produced by a combination of doctors, managers, technology and administrative staff, food preparation workers, and workers in other occupations.

The share of Americans who are in the middle class is smaller than it used to be. In 1971, 61% of Americans lived in middle-class households. By 2023, the share had fallen to 51%, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of government data.

A bar chart showing that Share of Americans in the middle class has fallen since 1971

As a result, Americans are more apart than before financially. From 1971 to 2023, the share of Americans who live in lower-income households increased from 27% to 30%, and the share in upper-income households increased from 11% to 19%.

Notably, the increase in the share who are upper income was greater than the increase in the share who are lower income. In that sense, these changes are also a sign of economic progress overall.

But the middle class has fallen behind on two key counts. The growth in income for the middle class since 1970 has not kept pace with the growth in income for the upper-income tier. And the share of total U.S. household income held by the middle class has plunged.

Moreover, many groups still lag in their presence in the middle- and upper-income tiers. For instance, American Indians or Alaska Natives, Black and Hispanic Americans, and people who are not married are more likely than average to be in the lower-income tier. Several metro areas in the U.S. Southwest also have high shares of residents who are in the lower-income tier, after adjusting for differences in cost of living across areas.

  • Change in income
  • Share of total U.S. household income
  • Race and ethnicity
  • Marital status
  • Veteran status
  • Place of birth
  • Employment status
  • Metropolitan area of residence

Our report focuses on the current state of the American middle class. First, we examine changes in the financial well-being of the middle class and other income tiers since 1970. This is based on data from the Annual Social and Economic Supplements (ASEC) of the Current Population Survey (CPS), conducted from 1971 to 2023.

Then, we report on the attributes of people who were more or less likely to be middle class in 2022. Our focus is on their race and ethnicity , age , gender, marital and veteran status , place of birth , ancestry , education , occupation , industry , and metropolitan area of residence . These estimates are derived from American Community Survey (ACS) data and differ slightly from the CPS-based estimates. In part, that is because incomes can be adjusted for the local area cost of living only with the ACS data. (Refer to the methodology for details on these two data sources.)

This analysis and an accompanying report on the Asian American middle class are part of a series on the status of America’s racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. middle class and other income tiers. Forthcoming analyses will focus on White, Black, Hispanic, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander and multiracial Americans, including subgroups within these populations. These reports are, in part, updates of previous work by the Center . But they offer much greater detail on the demographic attributes of the American middle class.

Following are some key facts about the state of the American middle class:

In our analysis, “middle-income” Americans are those living in households with an annual income that is two-thirds to double the national median household income. The income it takes to be middle income varies by household size, with smaller households requiring less to support the same lifestyle as larger households. It also varies by the local cost of living, with households in a more expensive area, such as Honolulu, needing a higher income than those in a less expensive area, such as Wichita, Kansas.

We don’t always know the area in which a household is located. In our two data sources – the Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC) and the American Community Survey (ACS) – only the latter provides that information, specifically the metropolitan area of a household. Thus, we aren’t able to adjust for the local cost of living when using the CPS to track changes in the status of the middle class over time. But we do adjust for the metropolitan area cost of living when using the ACS to determine the demographic attributes of the middle class in 2022.

In the 2023 CPS ASEC data , which reports income for 2022, middle-income households with three people have incomes ranging from about $61,000 to $183,000 annually. “Lower-income” households have incomes less than $61,000, and “upper-income” households have incomes greater than $183,000.

In the 2022 ACS data , middle-income households with three people have incomes ranging from about $62,000 to $187,000 annually, with incomes also adjusted for the local area cost of living. (Incomes are expressed in 2023 dollars.)

The boundaries of the income tiers also vary across years as the national median income changes.

The terms “middle income” and “middle class” are used interchangeably in this report for the sake of exposition. But being middle class can refer to more than just income , be it education level, type of profession, economic security, home ownership or social and political values. Class also could simply be a matter of self-identification .

Households in all income tiers had much higher incomes in 2022 than in 1970, after adjusting for inflation. But the gains for middle- and lower-income households were less than the gains for upper-income households .

A bar chart showing that Incomes of upper-income U.S. households increased the most of any income tier from 1970 to 2022

The median income of middle-class households increased from about $66,400 in 1970 to $106,100 in 2022, or 60%. Over this period, the median income of upper-income households increased 78%, from about $144,100 to $256,900. (Incomes are scaled to a three-person household and expressed in 2023 dollars.)

The median income of lower-income households grew more slowly than that of other households, increasing from about $22,800 in 1970 to $35,300 in 2022, or 55%.

Consequently, there is now a larger gap between the incomes of upper-income households and other households. In 2022, the median income of upper-income households was 7.3 times that of lower-income households, up from 6.3 in 1970. It was 2.4 times the median income of middle-income households in 2022, up from 2.2 in 1970.

The share of total U.S. household income held by the middle class has fallen almost without fail in each decade since 1970 . In that year, middle-income households accounted for 62% of the aggregate income of all U.S. households, about the same as the share of people who lived in middle-class households.

A line chart showing that Share of total U.S. household income held by the middle class has plunged since 1970

By 2022, the middle-class share in overall household income had fallen to 43%, less than the share of the population in middle-class households (51%). Not only do a smaller share of people live in the middle class today, the incomes of middle-class households have also not risen as quickly as the incomes of upper-income households.  

Over the same period, the share of total U.S. household income held by upper-income households increased from 29% in 1970 to 48% in 2022. In part, this is because of the increase in the share of people who are in the upper-income tier.

The share of overall income held by lower-income households edged down from 10% in 1970 to 8% in 2022. This happened even though the share of people living in lower-income households increased over this period.

The share of people in the U.S. middle class varied from 46% to 55% across racial and ethnic groups in 2022. Black and Hispanic Americans, Native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders, and American Indians or Alaska Natives were more likely than others to be in lower-income households .

A bar chart showing Black, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and American Indian/Alaska Native people are more likely than others to live in lower-income U.S. households

In 2022, 39% to 47% of Americans in these four groups lived in lower-income households. In contrast, only 24% of White and Asian Americans and 31% of multiracial Americans were in the lower-income tier.

At the other end of the economic spectrum, 27% of Asian and 21% of White Americans lived in upper-income households in 2022, compared with about 10% or less of Black and Hispanic Americans, Native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders, and American Indians or Alaska Natives.

Not surprisingly, lower-income status is correlated with the likelihood of living in poverty. According to the Census Bureau , the poverty rate among Black (17.1%) and Hispanic (16.9%) Americans and American Indians or Alaska Natives (25%) was greater than the rate among White and Asian Americans (8.6% for each). (The Census Bureau did not report the poverty rate for Native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders.)

A bar chart showing Nearly 4 in 10 U.S. children lived in lower-income households in 2022, about half in the middle class

Children and adults 65 and older were more likely to live in lower-income households in 2022. Adults in the peak of their working years – ages 30 to 64 – were more likely to be upper income. In 2022, 38% of children (including teens) and 35% of adults 65 and older were lower income, compared with 26% of adults ages 30 to 44 and 23% of adults 45 to 64.

The share of people living in upper-income households ranged from 13% among children and young adults (up to age 29) to 24% among those 45 to 64. In each age group, about half or a little more were middle class in 2022.

Men were slightly more likely than women to live in middle-income households in 2022 , 53% vs. 51%. Their share in upper-income households (18%) was also somewhat greater than the share of women (16%) in upper-income households.

A bar chart showing that Men, veterans and married Americans were more likely than their counterparts to live in middle- or upper-income households in 2022

Marriage appears to boost the economic status of Americans. Among those who were married in 2022, eight-in-ten lived either in middle-income households (56%) or upper-income households (24%). In contrast, only about six-in-ten of those who were separated, divorced, widowed or never married were either middle class or upper income, while 37% lived in lower-income households.

Veterans were more likely than nonveterans to be middle income in 2022, 57% vs. 53%. Conversely, a higher share of nonveterans (29%) than veterans (24%) lived in lower-income households.

A bar chart showing that Immigrants were more likely than the U.S. born to be lower income in 2022; people born in Asia, Europe or Oceania were most likely to be upper income

Immigrants – about 14% of the U.S. population in 2022 – were less likely than the U.S. born to be in the middle class and more likely to live in lower-income households. In 2022, more than a third of immigrants (36%) lived in lower-income households, compared with 29% of the U.S. born. Immigrants also trailed the U.S. born in the shares who were in the middle class, 48% vs. 53%.

There are large gaps in the economic status of American residents by their region of birth. Among people born in Asia, Europe or Oceania, 25% lived in upper-income households in 2022. People from these regions represented 7% of the U.S. population.

By comparison, only 14% of people born in Africa or South America and 6% of those born in Central America and the Caribbean were in the upper-income tier in 2022. Together they accounted for 8% of the U.S. population.

The likelihood of being in the middle class or the upper-income tier varies considerably with the ancestry of Americans. In 2022, Americans reporting South Asian ancestry were about as likely to be upper income (38%) as they were to be middle income (42%). Only 20% of Americans of South Asian origin lived in lower-income households. South Asians accounted for about 2% of the U.S. population of known origin groups in 2022.

A bar chart showing that Americans of South Asian origin are the most likely to be upper income; Hispanic origins are the least likely

At least with respect to the share who were lower income, this was about matched by those with Soviet, Eastern European, other Asian or Western European origins. These groups represented the majority (54%) of the population of Americans whose ancestry was known in 2022.

On the other hand, only 7% of Americans with Central and South American or other Hispanic ancestry were in the upper-income tier, and 44% were lower income. The economic statuses of Americans with Caribbean, sub-Saharan African or North American ancestry were not very different from this.

Education matters for moving into the middle class and beyond, and so do jobs. Among Americans ages 25 and older in 2022, 52% of those with a bachelor’s degree or higher level of education lived in middle-class households and another 35% lived in upper-income households.

A bar chart showing that The share of Americans in the middle- or upper-income tier rises sharply with education and employment

In sharp contrast, 42% of Americans who did not graduate from high school were in the middle class, and only 5% were in the upper-income tier. Further, only 12% of college graduates were lower income, compared with 54% of those who did not complete high school.

Not surprisingly, having a job is strongly linked to movement from the lower-income tier to the middle- and upper-income tiers. Among employed American workers ages 16 and older, 58% were in the middle-income tier in 2022 and 23% were in the upper-income tier. Only 19% of employed workers were lower income, compared with 49% of unemployed Americans.

A bar chart showing that More than a third of U.S. workers in technology, management, and business and finance occupations were in the upper-income tier in 2022

In some occupations, about nine-in-ten U.S. workers are either in the middle class or in the upper-income tier, but in some other occupations almost four-in-ten workers are lower income. More than a third (36% to 39%) of workers in computer, science and engineering, management, and business and finance occupations lived in upper-income households in 2022. About half or more were in the middle class.

But many workers – about one-third or more – in construction, transportation, food preparation and serving, and personal care and other services were in the lower-income tier in 2022.

About six-in-ten workers or more in education; protective and building maintenance services; office and administrative support; the armed forces; and maintenance, repair and production were in the middle class.

A bar chart showing that About a third of U.S. workers in the information, financial and professional services sectors were in the upper-income tier in 2022

Depending on the industrial sector, anywhere from half to two-thirds of U.S. workers were in the middle class, and the share who are upper income or lower income varied greatly.

About a third of workers in the finance, insurance and real estate, information, and professional services sectors were in the upper-income tier in 2022. Nearly nine-in-ten workers (87%) in public administration – largely filling legislative functions and providing federal, state or local government services – were either in the middle class or the upper-income tier.

But nearly four-in-ten workers (38%) in accommodation and food services were lower income in 2022, along with three-in-ten workers in the retail trade and other services sectors.

The share of Americans who are in the middle class or in the upper- or lower-income tier differs across U.S. metropolitan areas. But a pattern emerges when it comes to which metro areas have the highest shares of people living in lower-, middle- or upper-income households. (We first adjust household incomes for differences in the cost of living across areas.)

A bar chart showing that The 10 U.S. metropolitan areas with the largest shares of residents in the middle class in 2022

The 10 metropolitan areas with the greatest shares of middle-income residents are small to midsize in population and are located mostly in the northern half of the U.S. About six-in-ten residents in these metro areas were in the middle class.

Several of these areas are in the so-called Rust Belt , namely, Wausau and Oshkosh-Neenah, both in Wisconsin; Grand Rapids-Wyoming, Michigan; and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Two others – Dover and Olympia-Tumwater – include state capitals (Delaware and Washington, respectively).

In four of these areas – Bismarck, North Dakota, Ogden-Clearfield, Utah, Lancaster and Wausau – the share of residents in the upper-income tier ranged from 18% to 20%, about on par with the share nationally.

A bar chart showing that The 10 U.S. metropolitan areas with the largest shares of residents in the upper-income tier in 2022

The 10 U.S. metropolitan areas with the highest shares of residents in the upper-income tier are mostly large, coastal communities. Topping the list is San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California, a technology-driven economy, in which 40% of the population lived in upper-income households in 2022. Other tech-focused areas on this list include San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward; Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue; and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Connecticut, is a financial hub. Several areas, including Washington, D.C.-Arlington-Alexandria and Boston-Cambridge-Newton, are home to major universities, leading research facilities and the government sector.

Notably, many of these metro areas also have sizable lower-income populations. For instance, about a quarter of the populations in Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk; Trenton, New Jersey; Boston-Cambridge-Newton; and Santa Cruz-Watsonville, California, were in the lower-income tier in 2022.

A bar chart showing that The 10 U.S. metropolitan areas with the largest shares of residents in the lower-income tier in 2022

Most of the 10 U.S. metropolitan areas with the highest shares of residents in the lower-income tier are in the Southwest, either on the southern border of Texas or in California’s Central Valley. The shares of people living in lower-income residents were largely similar across these areas, ranging from about 45% to 50%.

About 40% to 50% of residents in these metro areas were in the middle class, and only about one-in-ten or fewer lived in upper-income households.

Compared with the nation overall, the lower-income metro areas in Texas and California have disproportionately large Hispanic populations. The two metro areas in Louisiana – Monroe and Shreveport-Bossier City – have disproportionately large Black populations.

Note: For details on how this analysis was conducted,  refer to the methodology .

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GENEVA, Ill. (WLS) -- The Northern Illinois Food Bank will begin its Summer Food Service Program on the first Monday of June.

The Food Research an Action Center reports one in 11 kids who receive free or reduced-price lunch during the school year, are at risk for summer hunger, the food bank said.

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The program provides free breakfasts, lunches, and snacks to youth programs throughout 13 counties in suburban and rural Northern Illinois.

The meals will be distributed and must be consumed, at designated community sites, including at select park districts, churches, schools, and community centers.

Summer Meal sites run from June 3 to August 16.

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The sites are open Monday through Friday from 11:00 a.m. to noon or 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., depending on the site.

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Essential Topics in Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism

Studies in Honor of David Singleton

  • © 2014
  • Mirosław Pawlak 0 ,
  • Larissa Aronin 1

Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts Dept. of English Studies, Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz, Poland

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Graduate Studies Faculty, Oranim Academic College of Education, Tivon, Israel

  • The papers included in the collection offer state-of-the-art perspectives on a number of key issues in applied linguistics and multilingualism
  • Many of the contributions report on the findings of original research that enhance our knowledge concerning the acquisition of additional languages and the variables affecting this process
  • Some of the papers pave the way for new lines of inquiry or advance our knowledge in areas that have only recently have become the focus of attention for theorists and researchers, as the case may be with the role of affordances or the contribution of material culture
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Second Language Learning and Teaching (SLLT)

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About this book

Similar content being viewed by others, direct and indirect effects of multilingualism on novel language learning: an integrative review.

linguistics related research topics

Michael Zock: A Life of Interdisciplinary Research and International Engagement

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Lines of Thought

  • Applied Linguistics
  • Language Use
  • Multilingualism
  • Second Language Acquisition

Table of contents (17 chapters)

Front matter, essential topics in applied linguistics, can you learn to love grammar and so make it grow on the role of affect in l2 development.

  • Michael Sharwood Smith

It’s All in the Eyes: How Language Dominance, Salience, and Context Affect Eye Movements During Idiomatic Language Processing

  • Anna B. Cieślicka, Roberto R. Heredia, Marc Olivares

The Critical Period Hypothesis for Second Language Acquisition: Tailoring the Coat of Many Colors

  • David Birdsong

The Association Between Aptitude Components and Language Skills in Young Learners

  • Carmen Muñoz

Cross-Linguistic Influence in L2 Writing: The Role of Short-Term Memory

  • Agni Skrzypek

Another Look at Temporal Variation in Language Learning Motivation: Results of a Study

  • Mirosław Pawlak, Anna Mystkowska-Wiertelak, Jakub Bielak

Testing Linguistic Awareness Among Learners of Hungarian

  • Judit Navracsics, Gyula Sáry, Szilvia Bátyi, Csilla Varga

Dyslexia in the European EFL Teacher Training Context

  • Joanna Nijakowska

Essential Topics in Multilingualism

The concept of affordances in applied linguistics and multilingualism.

Larissa Aronin

On Multilingual Awareness or Why the Multilingual Learner is a Specific Language Learner

  • Ulrike Jessner

Face to Face with One’s Thoughts: On Thinking Multilingually

  • Danuta Gabryś-Barker

Crosslinguistic Influence in Instructed L3 Child Phonological Acquisition

  • Romana Kopečková

Crosslinguistic Influence and Bilingual Children’s Weaker Language

  • Justyna Leśniewska, Ewa Witalisz

Learners’ Reflections on Their Narratives on L2 and L3 Learning

  • Muiris Ó. Laoire

Exploring the Impact of the Proficiency and Typology Factors: Two Cases of Multilingual Learners’ L3 Learning

  • Christina Lindqvist, Camilla Bardel

Standard Punctuation and the Punctuation of the Street

  • Vivian Cook

The Homunculus in the Multilingual Brain

  • Kees de Bot

Editors and Affiliations

Mirosław Pawlak

Bibliographic Information

Book Title : Essential Topics in Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism

Book Subtitle : Studies in Honor of David Singleton

Editors : Mirosław Pawlak, Larissa Aronin

Series Title : Second Language Learning and Teaching

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01414-2

Publisher : Springer Cham

eBook Packages : Humanities, Social Sciences and Law , Education (R0)

Copyright Information : Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014

Hardcover ISBN : 978-3-319-01413-5 Published: 30 September 2013

Softcover ISBN : 978-3-319-34659-5 Published: 23 August 2016

eBook ISBN : 978-3-319-01414-2 Published: 18 September 2013

Series ISSN : 2193-7648

Series E-ISSN : 2193-7656

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : VIII, 305

Number of Illustrations : 19 b/w illustrations, 19 illustrations in colour

Topics : Applied Linguistics , Language Education

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    The papers included in the collection offer state-of-the-art perspectives on a number of key issues in applied linguistics and multilingualism; Many of the contributions report on the findings of original research that enhance our knowledge concerning the acquisition of additional languages and the variables affecting this process