Synopses & Reviews
International contributors representing linguistics, gerontology, geriatric nursing, computer science, and communications report on empirically-based investigations of social and pragmatic language competencies and strategies retained by Alzheimer's patients which could ground communication enhancements or interventions.
Review
'...this collection is a praiseworthy effort at meeting the challenges of research into dementia from a multi-disciplinary perspective...this is a book I would highly recommend for use by both students and researchers. It provides a useful resource that exemplifies how linguistic approaches can be systematically applied to both written texts and conversational data. Even more importantly, it is underpinned by a concern for integrity of the individual and points to strategies that can be used to improve the communication process in dementia.' - Jackie Guendouzi, Journal of Sociolinguistics Synopsis
The contributors to this volume reference a shared, longitudinal corpus of spontaneous conversation elicited in natural settings from speakers with moderate to late moderate Alzheimer's Disease, utilizing other collections as appropriate, to analyze conversation, discourse and written text by and about Alzheimer's speech. Cross-disciplinary contributions from the USA, Canada, New Zealand and Germany, representing linguistics, gerontology, geriatric nursing, computer science, and communications disorders report on empirically-based investigations of social and pragmatic language competencies and strategies retained by AD patients which could ground communication enhancements or interventions.
About the Author
Boyd H. Davis is Bonnie E. Cone Distinguished Professor for Teaching at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments * Notes on the Contributors * Introduction: Some Commonalities * PART I: TALK AND TEXT * There Was an Old Woman: Maintenance of Identity by People with Alzheimer's Dementia;
D.Shenk * Evidencing Kitwood's Personhood Strategies: Conversation as Care in Dementia;
E.B.Ryan, K.Byrne, H.Spykerman, J.B.Orange * Speak To Me, Listen To Me: Ethnic and Gender Variations in Talk and Potential Consequences in Interactions For People With Alzheimer's Disease;
C.Pope, D.N.Ripich * Talking in The Here And Now: Reference and Politeness in Alzheimer Conversation;
B.H.Davis, C.Bernstein * Carousel Conversation: Aspects of Family Roles and Topic Shift in Alzheimer's Talk;
J.P.Brewer * Alzheimer's Speakers and Two Languages;
G.M.J.Nold * So, You Had Two Sisters, Right? Functions For Discourse Markers in Alzheimer's Talk;
B.H.Davis * Bad Times and Good Times: Lexical Variation over Time in Robbie Walters' Speech;
M.MacLagan, P.Mason * PART II: TEXT AND CONTEXT * Communication Enhancement with Family Caregivers of Individuals with Alzheimer's Disease;
K.Byrne, J.B.Orange * Writers with Dementia: The Interplay among Reading, Writing, and Personhood;
E.B.Ryan, H.Spykerman, A.P.Anas * Simulating Alzheimer's Discourse For Caregiver Training in Artificial Intelligence-based Dialogue Systems;
N.Green * Understanding Text About Alzheimer's Talk;
L.Russell-Pinson, L.Moore * Epilogue: The Prism, The Soliloquy, The Couch and The Dance - The Evolving Study of Language and Alzheimer's Disease;
H.E.Hamilton * Index