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Alzheimer’s Dementia

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Research in Clinical Pragmatics

Part of the book series: Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology ((PEPRPHPS,volume 11))

Abstract

Socio-pragmatic processing is a complex feature of human communication that relies on several cognitive systems such as attention, working memory, and the ability to access semantic information in the lexicon. This chapter examines socio-pragmatic processing in the context of Alzheimer’s dementia (AD). We consider (a) the characteristics of communication in dementia, (b) how cognitive limitations associated with AD interact with the ability to fully process the contextual information necessary for attending to, and comprehending, socio-pragmatic information, and (c) the implications of interacting with people with AD for neuro-typical communication partners. Consideration of qualitative studies published in the past decade in addition to the examination of data collected in an ethnographic study suggest that people with AD are often adept at managing to sustain the use of small-talk and politeness tokens in conversational dyads. However, this may be due to the nature of these particular forms of talk which allow for more paradigmatic choices than other forms of talk that contain greater propositional density.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health and Human Sciences, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Southeastern Louisiana University, 70402, Hammond, LA, USA

    Jacqueline Guendouzi

  2. Department of Health and Human Sciences, Program of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, LA, USA

    Meghan Savage

Authors
  1. Jacqueline Guendouzi
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  2. Meghan Savage
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Correspondence to Jacqueline Guendouzi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Arts and Humanities, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom

    Louise Cummings

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Guendouzi, J., Savage, M. (2017). Alzheimer’s Dementia. In: Cummings, L. (eds) Research in Clinical Pragmatics. Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47489-2_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47489-2_13

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47487-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47489-2

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