Dementia and Language
The Lived Experience in Interaction

An exploration of how people with dementia interact with others in a variety of social contexts, from everyday to clinical.

Peter Muntigl (Edited by), Charlotta Plejert (Edited by), Danielle Jones (Edited by)

9781108424530, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 November 2024

378 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 2.5 cm, 0.68 kg

'This book is one that is relevant to researchers, clinicians, and even families, for it explores a host of themes that are relevant to all: diagnosis, interaction, everyday life, and domains of knowledge and control. It is not a book that only addresses decline and deficit; it also highlights adaptation and adjustment on the part of those with the syndrome and those with whom they are in relationships. Read this book, learn, and be richly rewarded!' Douglas W. Maynard, Hallinan Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Garfinkel Faculty Fellow Emeritus, University of Wisconsin—Madison

Bringing together cutting-edge research from a group of international scholars, this innovative volume examines how people with dementia interact with others in a variety of social contexts, ranging from everyday conversation to clinical settings. Drawing on methods from conversation analysis, it sheds light on how people with dementia accomplish relevant goals in interaction, as well as how changes in an individual's discursive abilities may affect how conversationalists negotiate a world in common and continue to build their social relationships. By exploring interaction, this book breaks new ground in challenging the commonplace assumptions about what constitutes typical or atypical interactions in communication involving people with dementia, and further demonstrates the unique and creative strategies all speakers employ to facilitate better and more collaborative communication. It is essential reading for academic researchers and advanced students across sociolinguistics, interactional linguistics and conversational analysis, as well as health care practitioners.

Part I. Introduction: 1. Interaction research and dementia Peter Muntigl, Danielle Jones and Charlotta Plejert
Part II. Dementia and Diagnostics: 2. Good reasons for non-standardisation in the administration of cognitive assessments Danielle Jones, Clare Jackson and Ray Wilkinson
3. (Dis)alignment at dementia diagnosis: a window into differing expectations, perceptions and agendas in the memory clinic Jemima Dooley and Rose Mccabe
4. The role of applied conversation analysis to enhance equity in care for people with dementia from minority ethnic groups Charlotta Plejert
Part III. Dementia and Conversational Strategies: 5. Using 'now what' to discursively compensate for frontotemporal dementia-related challenges: a longitudinal case study Lisa Mikesell
6. Being sociable: a case study of a man with vascular dementia singing in conversation Roy Foster
7. On the use of tag questions by co-participants of people with dementia: asymmetries of knowledge, power and interactional competence Jacqueline Kindell, John Keady and Ray Wilkinson
8. Initiating and pursuing a topical agenda with limited communicative resources Anne Marie Dalby Landmark and Jan Svennevig
Part IV. Dementia and Epistemics: 9. Identifying family members in photographs: practical epistemic and deontic challenges for a person with frontotemporal dementia Peter Muntigl, Gerhard Ransmayr and Stephanie Hödl
10. 'You know this better': interactional challenges for couples living with dementia when the epistemic status regarding shared past events are uncertain Anna Ekström, Elin Nilsson and Ali Reza Majlesi
11. Maintaining personhood and authority in everyday talk of a family living with dementia Lindsay Lindley
Part V. Communicative Challenges in Everyday Social Life: 12. Language and cognition in conversations with a person with Alzheimer's disease Danielle Jones
13. Using digital communication support in interaction involving people with dementia– interactional strategies to facilitate participation and engagement Christina Samuelsson
14. 'It's more than eating, it's a social situation' – video analysis and professional vision in dementia care Camilla Lindholm and Tuula Tykkyläinen
15. Social quizzes for people living with dementia: how enactment impacts on interaction Joe Webb.

Subject Areas: Sociolinguistics [CFB]