Changing minds : how aging affects language and how language affects aging / Roger Kreuz and Richard Roberts ; illustrations by Enkhtur Bayarsaikhan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kreuz, Roger J., author.

Roberts, Richard (Richard Miller), 1959- author.

Contributor:

Bayarsaikhan, Enkhtur, illustrator.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Older people--Communication.

Older people.

Language and languages--Age differences.

Language and languages.

Language disorders in old age.

Psycholinguistics.

Physical Description:

xii, 268 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : MIT Press, [2019]

Summary:

Two international linguistic researchers, Roger Kruez and Richard Roberts, explore why language ability remains resilient and how it shapes our lives. We acquire our native language, seemingly without effort, in infancy and early childhood. Language is our constant companion throughout our lifetime, even as we age. Indeed, compared with other aspects of cognition, language seems to be fairly resilient through the process of aging. In Changing Minds, Roger Kreuz and Richard Roberts examine how aging affects language--and how language affects aging. Kreuz and Roberts report that what appear to be changes in an older person's language ability are actually produced by declines in such other cognitive processes as memory and perception. Some language abilities, including vocabulary size and writing ability, may even improve with age. And certain language activities--including reading fiction and engaging in conversation--may even help us live fuller and healthier lives.

Contents:

Language by Design p. 7

Comparing Apples to Oranges p. 10

Components of Cognition p. 14

The Compensation of Language p. 19

2 The Language of Sight and Sound p. 25

Do You Hear What I See? p. 25

A Look at Hearing p. 29

Tinnitus p. 32

Voice Quality p. 36

Speaking of Vision p. 40

Presbyopia p. 44

Making Sense of Feelings p. 48

3 The Story of Speech p. 53

Word Finding p. 53

Word Naming p. 57

Speech Disfluency p. 60

Stuttering p. 64

Aphasia p. 68

Dyslexia p. 73

Foreign Accent Syndrome p. 77

4 Word Domination p. 83

Stressed Out p. 83

Spelling Ability p. 86

Vocabulary Size p. 90

Verbal Fluency p. 94

Grammatical Complexity p. 97

Off-Topic Verbosity p. 101

Telling Stories p. 105

5 Using Language p. 111

Pragmatic Competence p. 111

Nonliteral Language p. 114

Can Spring Chickens Teach Old Dogs New Tricks? p. 118

Elderspeak p. 122

Living with More Than One Language p. 126

The Benefits of Bilingualism? p. 130

6 The Write Stuff p. 135

Healing through Language p. 135

Reminiscing p. 138

Late Bloomers p. 144

Writer's Block p. 148

The Destroyer of Minds p. 153

Lessons from the Nuns p. 157

Fiction Is Stronger Than Truth p. 160.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780262042598

0262042592

OCLC:

1056204008