P3‐479: “No, Mom, it was not like that, what happened first was …”: Discursive analysis of the narrative texts in the older person with memory failure
Beatriz Valles-Gonzalez · Alzheimer s & Dementia · 2008
When narrating something, one must follow a specific organization, which needs the use of a program or super-structure by speakers in order to arrange ideas and reach the necessary coherence and cohesion. In the old age, this linguistic activity may be interfered by memory complaints, that is, to fail when remembering certain events and to have difficulties in selecting words or in organizing facts according to chronological order. In the present study, we analyzed how the construction of the narrative text made by an elderly woman is influenced and interfered by these limitations. We also studied the role of the young interlocutor, who was a key element in the shared process of constructing narrative texts. In order to do that, we filmed, during a year, a number of communicative events that were held between an 82-year-old woman, with memory complaints, and different young adults as interlocutors. All filming sessions were made in the informant's home. Later on, we selected some narrative extracts, transcribe them in gloss and analyze them, so we could study the coherence and cohesion marks. The results showed that the older woman used indirect repairs (based on questions), which were addressed to her key interlocutors to check whether they understood her or not. They also showed that she was able to start, maintain and conclude the discussion of a topic, despite her failures when selecting words or organizing facts in sequence. These limitations were compensated by the young interlocutors with the use of hetero-repairs aiming to place facts in a chronological line, indirect repairs using marks aiming to show comprehension and through the addition of events with the purpose of completing the story. The contributions of this study are considered of great importance because not only they extend the current knowledge about linguistic performance in the older person from a discursive point of view, but they also analyze how the key interlocutor can be an efficient alternative in the task of constructing a text. This last aspect can be useful in future recommendations addressed to caregivers and families of patients with dementia.