This book brings together international, linguistic research with a focus on interaction in multilingual encounters involving people with dementia in care and healthcare settings. The methodologies used (Conversation Analysis, Ethnography and Discursive Constructionism) capture practices on the micro-level, revealing how very subtle details may be of critical importance for the everyday well-being of participants with dementia, particularly in settings and contexts where there is a lack of a common verbal language of interlocutors, or where language abilities have been lost as a result of dementia. Chapters analyse the practices and actions employed by interlocutors to facilitate mutual understanding, enhance high-quality social relations and assure optimal care and treatment, in spite of language and cognitive difficulties, with an emphasis put on the participants’ remaining capacities, and what can be achieved between people with dementia and their interlocutors in a collaborative fashion. This book goes beyond the study of two-party communication to address multiparty and group interactions which are common in residential care and other healthcare settings and will be of interest to professionals and policy makers as well as to medical sciences and linguistics researchers and students.

​This book examines the under-researched field of communication by bilingual people with dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT). The aging population is increasingly affected by neurocognitive diseases such as DAT, and over the past 30 years, the growing research body concerned with monolingual DAT discourses has seen significant growth. The findings from monolingual studies and institutional settings highlight the importance of code choice for a person’s sense of autonomy, especially against the background of changing communicational abilities. Adding a new perspective, this book investigates how ten Puerto Rican speakers living with varying stages of DAT draw on their bilingual resources to accomplish verbal interaction in informal settings with their primary care partners. Drawing on narrative interviews conducted in Orlando, Florida, this multi-case study investigates situated language choices and code-switches by applying the ethno-social approach, i.e. combining features of conversation analysis and ethnography of communication. The author sheds light both on the question of how people living with DAT engage in conversations and which strategies they employ in their languages (English and Spanish) to reach their communicative goals. Specifically, by analyzing the role of code choice and code-switching in a qualitative manner, two main functional categories emerge: discourse-related and participant-related code-switching. Bilingual competencies remain even among participants living with severe DAT symptoms, as evident in retained interactional sequences such as salutations. Persons living with DAT competently negotiate code, either through exploratory code-switching or metalinguistic commentary, emphasizing the need for conversational partners to be sensitive to the communicative needs, in both languages, of speakers living with DAT. This book will be of interest to students and researchers working on dementia discourses, health communication, multilingualism and ageing, as well as Bilingual/ Multilingual families or individuals living with dementia.

Alison Wray notes that “Alzheimer’s Disease affects language in many different ways. Directly, language processing is undermined by damage to the language areas of the brain. Indirectly, language is compromised by short term memory loss, distortions in perception, and disturbed semantic representation . . . All of this makes AD an obvious focus of interest for linguists and in particular, those interested in the field of pragmatics – yet a striking amount of what is published about AD language is written by non-linguists. AD language is independently researched in at least psychology, neuroscience, sociology, clinical linguistics and nursing. Each discipline has its own methods, theories, assumptions and values, which affect the research questions asked, the empirical approach taken in answering them, and how the evidence is interpreted. Without a more reliable holistic picture informed by linguistic and applied linguistic theory and methods, approaches to diagnosis and care risk being constrained, and may result in a less than satisfactory experience for all those whose daily life involves the direct or indirect experience of AD.” This book is an attempt to address some of the above issues noted by bringing together a group of researchers whose work focuses on interaction in the context of dementia. The authors represent the fields of linguistics, clinical linguistics, nursing, and speech pathology, and each chapter draws on methods associated with discourse analysis and pragmatics to examine how people with dementia utilize language in the presence of cognitive decline. In addition, the book seeks to generate academic discussion on how researchers can move forward to focus greater attention on this topic. In particular, this collection will inspire researchers involved in mainstream theoretical linguistics and pragmatics to turn their attention to the discourse of dementia and investigate what it has to say about our knowledge of language theories, and, in addition, to challenge what we know about ourselves as subjective beings.

In this book different aspects of language and aging are discussed. While language spoken by and language spoken with elderly people have been treated as different areas of research, it is argued here that from a dynamical system perspective the two are closely interrelated. In addition to overviews of research on language and aging, a number of projects on this topic in multilingual settings are presented.

An authoritative overview of language and speech disorders, featuring new and updated chapters written by leading specialists from across the field The Handbook of Speech and Language Disorders, Second Edition, provides timely and authoritative coverage of current issues, foundational principles, and new research directions within the study of communication disorders. Building upon the reputation of the landmark first edition, this volume offers an exceptionally broad and in-depth survey of the field, presenting original chapters by internationally recognized specialists that examine an array of language, speech, and cognitive disorders and discuss the most crucial aspects of this evolving discipline while providing practical information on analytical methods and assessment. Now in its second edition, the Handbook features extensively revised and refocused content throughout, reflecting the latest advances in the field. Original and updated chapters explore diverse topics including literacy and literacy impairments, patterns of normal and disordered language development, hearing impairment and cochlear implants, language acquisition and language delay, dementia, dysarthria, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, and many others. This acclaimed single-volume reference resource: Provides 26 original chapters which describe the latest in new research and which indicate future research directions Covers new developments in research since the original publication of the first edition Features in-depth coverage of the major disorders of language and speech, including new insights on perception, hearing impairment, literacy, and genetic syndromes Includes a series of foundational chapters covering a variety of important general principles, including labelling, diversity, intelligibility, assessment, and intervention The Handbook of Speech and Language Disorders, Second Edition, is essential reading for researchers, scholars, and students in speech and language pathology, speech, language and hearing sciences, and clinical llinguistics, as well as active practitioners and clinicians.

Discourse Analysis in Adults With and Without Communication Disorders: A Resource for Clinicians and Researchers provides state-of-the-art information about discourse analysis with sections on Aging, Aphasia, Cognitive Communication Disorders, and Neurodegenerative Diseases. The three renowned editors are actively engaged in the area of discourse. Expert clinical researchers introduce and organize each section, and chapters are authored by leaders involved in discourse research worldwide. Discourse is considered the most natural unit of language. Effective production of discourse requires complex interactions among linguistic, cognitive, and social abilities that are sensitive to even mild disruption in any one of these elements. This book covers the examination of discourse in adults with acquired communication disorders, including selecting elicitation tasks, streamlining transcription processes, expanding analysis methods, and translating findings for treatment application. Key Features * Provides a global perspective on discourse assessment for clinicians * Dedicated chapters on aging, aphasia, traumatic brain injury, right hemisphere disorder, primary progressive aphasia, Alzheimer’s dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Disclaimer: Please note that ancillary content (such as documents, audio, and video, etc.) may not be included as published in the original print version of this book.