Yes / Alzheimer’s disease irrevocably challenges a person’s capacity to communicate with others. Earlier
research on these challenges focused on the language disorders associated with the condition and
situated language deficit solely in the limitations of a person’s cognitive and semantic impairments.
This research falls short of gaining insight into the actual interactional experiences of a person
with Alzheimer’s and their family. Drawing on a UK data set of 70 telephone calls recorded over a
two-and-a-half year period (2006–2008) between one elderly woman affected by Alzheimer’s
disease, and her daughter and son-in-law, this paper explores the role which communication
(and its degeneration) plays in family relationships. Investigating these interactions, using a
conversation analytic approach, reveals that there are clearly communicative difficulties, but
closer inspection suggests that they arise due to the contingencies that are generated by the
other’s contributions in the interaction. That being so, this paper marks a departure from
the traditional focus on language level analysis and the assumption that deficits are intrinsic to
the individual with Alzheimer’s, and instead focuses on the collaborative communicative
challenges that arise in the interaction itself and which have a profound impact on people’s
lives and relationships.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/10843 |
| Date | 18 September 2013 |
| Creators | Jones, Danielle K. |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article, Accepted manuscript |
| Rights | © 2015 The Author. Full-text reproduced in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. |
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