The Language of Dementia Science and the Science of Dementia Language

Abstract

The language of dementia science and the science of dementia language: linguistic interpretations of an interdisciplinary research field. AbstractLanguage is a balance of precision and flexibility, and scientific dialogue across disciplines faces challenges in how terms are used and how phenomena, including language itself, are described and explained. Taking dementia as its focus, this paper offers linguistic perspectives on causes of inherent difficulty with terminological exactness. Attention is paid to the interface between the positivist imperatives of clinical evaluation and the relativist interpretations that help make sense of uses of terms across contexts. Two types of reason are examined for why the language produced by people with dementia is sometimes hard to characterize and predict: the theoretical challenges inherent in analyzing the language of dementia, and the social variables that affect how that language is manifested. The paper concludes with the vision of linguistic research using corpus-based discourse analysis to underpin and catalyze communication-bridging activities in interdisciplinary projects, within and beyond the dementia context. This paper explores how linguistics can support research across interdisciplinary boundaries in the dementia context. Linguistic research gets 'beneath the skin' of language, uncovering tacit assumptions and interrogating the relationship between how something is said and what a hearer or reader infers. Both individual words and combinations of them encode layers of meaning, well beyond what dictionary definitions can capture. Scientists are acculturated into discipline-specific uses of words and phrases, as shortcuts for complex ideas understood and accepted within that community of practice but not necessarily beyond it. When scientists collaborate across disciplines, miscommunication is a significant risk. Linguistic science is equipped to assist interdisciplinary researchers with understanding why apparently simple conversations about shared information and objectives do not always go smoothly.Dementia attracts researchers from the medical, biological, environmental and social sciences, as well as the humanities. Their joint aim is to further knowledge about causes, characteristics and potential future cures for dementia, and ways of accurately diagnosing it and treating and caring for people who develop it. But different conceptualizations of the knowledge underpinning these activities generate an uneven surface on which to kick the elliptical terminological ball. Dementia, Alzheimer's disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment are shown below to have less than clear-cut meanings, once considered in their contexts of use. Ways are needed for navigating these ambiguities.The situation is further complicated by the fact that in dementia, language itself is a variable. Patterns in the language produced by people with dementia (PwDs) contribute to understanding the underlying phenomenon. Two aspects of the interface between the language about dementia and the ...

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