For obvious reasons the major part of the extensive body of research on the effects of cleft lip and palate (CLP) has concentrated on consequences for speech. However, the intimate relationship between language and speech, especially but not exclusively in the early stages of development, suggests that language learning in children with CLP should not be ignored. Accordingly in this talk we will review what is known about language development in children with CLP, taking a broad view, to encompass the growth of vocabulary, the emergence and consolidation of syntactic constructions, as well as the unfolding of conversational and narrative abilities. We will also indicate some gaps in the research on language in children with CLP which we feel which would merit attention.