Ageing well: Social but also biological reasons for age‐grading

Abstract

The theory of language change has worked primarily with four basic language change profiles: generational change, age-grading, communal change, and stability. This paper focuses primarily on age-grading, the process whereby each generation undergoes a specific language change at the same age-related stage within their lifespan. Despite the necessary influence of biological change on the ageing body, the explanations put forward to explain why and how age-grading occurs have been primarily social. Previous work also often relies on the study of adolescents.Following the distinction between chronological, social, and biological ageing, this study provides an overview of biological factors which may also provide explanatory power, with a focus on phonetic variation. Considering biological factors can be important in order to avoid interpreting cases of biological age-grading as (solely) social in nature, and as cases of generational change rather than age-grading.

In support of researching later-life language variation and change

“…Advancement towards an age-comprehensive variationist sociolinguistics requires that we fully integrate aging-associated biological and psychological changes into analyses of later-life language use (but see Bowie 2015;Labov 1994). Hejná and Jespersen compellingly argue that we must consider biological changes, such as laryngeal muscle atrophy or tooth loss, to correctly interpret cross-sectional patterns of phonetic variation as evidence of biological age-grading or generational change (Hejná and Jespersen 2022). They also suggest that sensory changes may indirectly impact older adults' capability to participate in change in progress: those experiencing decline or loss in auditory acuity may not be able to perceive certain vowel changes, meaning their non-participation in ongoing change is an involuntary practice rather than a conscious choice.…”

“…Importantly, the tools that will need to be developed for measuring biological predictors among older adults may be applied to children and adolescents. Hejná and Jespersen, for example, suggest measuring individuals' body height as a proxy for gauging their vocal tract length and volume (Hejná and Jespersen 2022). (The value of cross-pollination between variationist research of the later life-course and research of the early life-course is why I am reluctant to adopt labels such as 'sociolinguistic gerontology' (see Coupland, Coupland, and Giles 1991) to refer to the former.…”