IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/geronb/v75y2020i9pe206-e214..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Linear and Nonlinear Age Trajectories of Language Use: A Laboratory Observation Study of Couples’ Conflict Conversations

Author

Listed:
  • Minxia Luo
  • Mona Neysari
  • Gerold Schneider
  • Mike Martin
  • Burcu Demiray
  • Angela Gutchess

Abstract

ObjectivesThis study investigated linear and nonlinear age effects on language use with speech samples that were representative of naturally occurring conversations.MethodUsing a corpus-based approach, we examined couples’ conflict conversations in the laboratory. The conversations, from a total of 364 community-dwelling German-speaking heterosexual couples (aged 19–82), were videotaped and transcribed. We examined usage of lower-frequency words, grammatical complexity, and utterance of filled pauses (e.g., äh [“um”]).ResultsMultilevel models showed that age effects on the usage of lower-frequency words were nonsignificant. Grammatical complexity increased until middle age (i.e., 54) and then declined. The utterance of filled pauses increased until old age (i.e., 70) and then decreased.DiscussionResults are discussed in relation to cognitive aging research.

Suggested Citation

  • Minxia Luo & Mona Neysari & Gerold Schneider & Mike Martin & Burcu Demiray & Angela Gutchess, 2020. "Linear and Nonlinear Age Trajectories of Language Use: A Laboratory Observation Study of Couples’ Conflict Conversations," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 75(9), pages 206-214.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:geronb:v:75:y:2020:i:9:p:e206-e214.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/geronb/gbaa041
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:geronb:v:75:y:2020:i:9:p:e206-e214.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/psychsocgerontology .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.