全球范围内老龄化趋势日益严峻，以探究老年人语言衰老问题为己任的老年语言学研究亟待开展。该领域有必要进一步从语用视角开展全面、深入的研究，兼具学理与应用价值。在对语用能力相关概念界定的基础上，文章从理论视角、研究方法和研究议题出发，梳理了国内外关于老年人语用能力蚀失的相关成果，发现多模态、生命历程、浮现模型等新的理论视角陆续出现，但相关研究也存在不足：以汉语为母语的老年人语用研究较少；对比研究较少，包括不同母语老年人之间和正常老年人与智退症老年人之间的对比；联合神经认知科学、语言学、心理学等相关学科的交叉研究仍较少；未来应注重开展基于多模态数据的老年人语用能力研究。

It is necessary to initiate research on geronto-linguisitics that focuses on the language degradation of the elderly group since the aging problem around the world appears to be increasingly severe. Studies in geronto-linguistics should have more comprehensive and profound exploration on pragmatic competence. This paper provides a review of the research on pragmatic competence decline of the elderly group in terms of theoretical perspectives, research methods and current topics. It suggests that we should pay more attention to the following three aspects:the language degradation of the Chinese elderly, comparison between normal elderly and elderly with dementia or between the elderly speaking different mother tongues, and interdisciplinary study involving neurology, linguistics and psychology, etc. Additionally, multimodal studies should also be enhanced.