Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T08:26:44.606Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Life-span changes to adults' language: Effects of memory and genre

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Susan Kemper*
Affiliation:
University of Kansas
Donna Kynette
Affiliation:
University of Kansas
Shannon Rash
Affiliation:
University of Kansas
Kevin O'Brien
Affiliation:
University of Kansas
Richard Sprott
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
*
S. Kemper, 426 Fraser Hall, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045

Abstract

Three different language samples were collected from a group of young adults, 18 to 28 years of age, and a group of elderly adults, 60 to 92 years of age: an oral questionnaire eliciting information about the adults' background, education, and current health and activities; an oral statement describing the person they most admired; and a written statement recounting the most significant event in their lives. In addition, the WAIS vocabulary and digit-span tests were administered to the adults. Age-related changes in the length, clause structure, and fluency of the adults' oral answers and oral and written statements were investigated. There was an overall decrement in the complexity of adults' oral and written statements attributable to an age-related loss of left-branching clauses which occurred in all three language samples. Correlations between the length, clause, and fluency measures from the language samples and the education, health, and WAIS vocabulary and digit-span tests revealed that better-educated adults scored higher on the WAIS vocabulary test, produced longer utterances, and used more right-branching clauses, and that adults with greater memory capacity, as measured by the WAIS Digits Backward test, produced more complex utterances and used more right- and left-branching clauses. Judges found the statements from the elderly adults to be more interesting and clearer than those from the young adults. This finding suggests that there is a trade-off between producing complex syntactic structures and producing clear and interesting prose.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Baddeley, A. D. (1985). Working memory. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Beaman, K. (1984). Coordination and subordination revisited: Syntactic complexity in spoken and written narrative discourse. In Tannen, D. (Ed.), Coherence in spoken and written discourse. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Burke, D., Worthley, J., & Martin, J. (1988). I'll never forget what's-her-name: Aging and tip of the tongue experiences in everyday life. In Gruneberg, M. M., Morris, P. E., & Sykes, R. N. (Eds.), Practical aspects of memory: Current research and issues. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Chafe, W. (1982). Integration and involvement in speaking, writing, and oral literature. In Tannen, D. (Ed.), Spoken and written language. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Chapman, R., & Miller, J. (1984). SALT Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts. Madison: University of Wisconsin.Google Scholar
Cohen, G. (1981). Language comprehension in old age. Cognition, 9, 5972.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, G., & Faulkner, D. (1984). Memory for text: Some age differences in the nature of the information that is retained after listening to texts. In Bouma, H. & Bowhuis, D. G. (Eds.), Attention and performance X. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Daneman, M., & Carpenter, P. A. (1980). Individual differences in working memory and reading. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 19, 450466.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emery, O. (1985). Language and aging. Experimental Aging Research, 11, 360.Google ScholarPubMed
Kemper, S. (1986). Imitation of complex syntactic constructions by elderly adults. Applied Psycholinguistics, 7, 277287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kemper, S. (1987a). Life-span changes in syntactic complexity. Journal of Gerontology, 42, 323328.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kemper, S. (1987b). Syntactic complexity and the recall of prose by middle-aged and elderly adults. Experimental Aging Research, 13, 4752.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kemper, S. (1988). Geriatric psycholinguistics: Syntactic limitations of oral and written language. In Light, L. & Burke, D. (Eds.), Language, memory, and aging. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kemper, S. (in press). Adults' diaries: Changes to written language across the life-span. Discourse Processes.Google Scholar
Kemper, S., & Rash, S. J. (1988). Speech and writing across the life-span. In Gruneberg, M. M., Morris, P. E., & Sykes, R. N. (Eds.), Practical aspects of memory: Current research and issues. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Kroll, B. (1977). Combining ideas in written and spoken English: A look at subordination and coordination. In Keenan, E. & Bennett, T. (Eds.), Discourse across time and space, Vol. 5. Los Angeles: University of Southern California Occasional Papers in Linguistics.Google Scholar
Kynette, D., & Kemper, S. (1986). Aging and the loss of grammatical forms: A cross-sectional study of language performance. Language and Communication, 6, 6572.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Obler, L. (1983). Narrative discourse style in the elderly. In Obler, L. K. & Albert, M. L. (Eds.), Language and communication in the elderly. Lexington, MA: Heath.Google Scholar
Obler, L. (1985). Language through the life-span. In Gleason, J. Berko (Ed.), The development of language. Columbus, OH: Merrill.Google Scholar
Ochs, E. (1979). Planned and unplanned discourse. In Givon, T. (Ed.), Discourse and syntax. New York: Academic.Google Scholar
O'Donnell, R. C. (1974). Syntactic differences between speech and writing. American Speech, 49, 102110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rowe, J. W., & Kahn, R. L. (1987). Human aging: Usual and successful. Science, 237, 143149.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Talland, G. (1965). Three estimates of the word span and their stability over the adult years. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 17, 301307.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tannen, D. (1982). The oral/literate continuum in discourse. In Tannen, D. (Ed.), Spoken and written language. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D. (1958). The measurement and appraisal of adult intelligence. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.Google Scholar
Zelinski, E. M., & Gilewski, M. J. (in press). Memory for prose and aging. A meta-analysis. In Howe, M. L. & Brainerd, C. J. (Eds.), Cognitive development in adulthood. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar