Editorial Note: What makes a paper appropriate for Language?

As Editor and Co-Editor of Language, we often receive questions about the scope of the journal. These questions usually come in one of two different flavors. More often they come as a request for advice on the appropriateness of a specific paper for Language: 'I am finishing a manuscript on topic X. Would this be appropriate for Language?' Less often it comes in the form of an expression of frustration: 'Why doesn't Language publish papers on topic X?' or 'Why doesn't Language publish research that is done in theoretical framework Y?' Questions about the scope of the journal are important enough that we thought it appropriate to dedicate a few pages to how we think about what kind of paper is publishable in Language. This note applies primarily to the main section of the journal, where we publish primary research articles. We will publish similar notes in this and upcoming issues of Language from the associate editors who oversee our special sections (Teaching Linguistics, Language and Public Policy, Language Revitalization and Documentation).

The content of language should reflect the research done by the linguistics community

As the flagship journal of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA), Language is in a sense the intellectual property of the linguistics community, and the content of the journal thus has to reflect the range of research done by the members of the linguistics community. In practice, this is how we think about it: if we can imagine a paper being presented at the annual meeting of the LSA, then that paper is most likely a good fit thematically for Language. More so than the many specialist journals, Language therefore welcomes submissions from all subdisciplines of linguistics and representing all theoretical approaches.

Of course, that such a wide range of submissions is appropriate for Language does not mean we actually receive submissions that represent this complete range. Since we cannot publish what we do not receive, it also means that the journal's content does not optimally represent the full range of topics that we aim for. If you feel that research in your subfield is not present in or is underrepresented in Language, that should serve as motivation for you to submit to Language, and to encourage your colleagues to do so, too. You should also feel free to contact the editorial team with questions about coverage of specific research areas in Language. Part of our job is to serve as a resource for any questions about what would constitute an appropriate topic for a Language paper.

Editors of Language have been working to increase the breadth of topics covered in the journal for many decades (discussions on this topic can be found in editorial notes published in Language over the decades, and also in the editorial reports presented at the LSA annual meeting). The most visible and probably most successful effort has included recruitment of associate editors representing specific subareas of linguistics or theoretical approaches that were (and sometimes still are) underrepresented in the journal. If potential authors see a prominent linguist who works in their research area as a member of the editorial team, that serves as a strong indication that their research would be welcomed at Language. For this reason, the size of the editorial team has increased in recent years, and currently includes nineteen associate editors covering research areas as diverse as sociolinguistics, language processing, phonetics, syntax, phonology, language contact, historical linguistics, teaching linguistics, semantics, pragmatics, language acquisition, sign languages, and language documentation. The team also includes members with a broadly generative approach, with a more functionalist approach, and with a usage-based approach to language. Efforts such as this have been successful to some extent. Recent years, for instance, have seen significant increases in submissions from areas such as sociolinguistics and historical linguistics (as reflected in recent Editor's Reports published in every June issue of Language). However, there are still areas that remain underrepresented in the journal, including neurolinguistics, anthropological linguistics, raciolinguistics, and research on language and gender, among others. Some of these...