Discourse in aging: Narrative and Persuasive

Aging is often characterized by changes in cognitive functions which affect the receptive and expressive capabilities of language. Since language plays a significant role in human life, we evaluate the existence of age-related differences in narrative and persuasive discourses.

Methods:

The narrative discourse of 91 adults and persuasive discourse of 92 adults,aged from 19 to 75 years and stratified into four age groups,were examined.

Results:

There was a statistically significant difference between coherence in the elderly group and each of the other three age groups for both types of discourse. There was also a significant difference for the cohesion variable between the elderly and the first age group for narrative discourse only.

Conclusion:

The results of this study demonstrate that discourse is influenced by aging and type (genre) of discourse task. Therefore, it is essential for clinicians to take into account the linguistic needs of elderly and incorporate these into their clinical programs. Also, this finding can help clinicians to distinguish between discourses of normal aging and other neurologic disorders (for example dementia, right hemisphere damage, aphasia).

Key words:
aging; discourse; narration; persuasion

Study group	Type of discourse	Male	Female	Education (mean±SD)
1 (19-24 years)	Narrative	8	31	14.56±1.23
1 (19-24 years)	Persuasive	8	24	13.47±1.52
2 (25-39 years)	Narrative	7	14	15.81±1.69
2 (25-39 years)	Persuasive	13	15	15.75±1.79
3 (40-59 years)	Narrative	6	15	13.90±3.36
3 (40-59 years)	Persuasive	10	10	13.85±3.58
4 (60-75 years)	Narrative	7	3	10.71±3.86
4 (60-75 years)	Persuasive	9	3	10.42±4.56

Score	Criteria
1	The C-unit is overtly related to the stimulus as defined by the mention of objects, actors, and actions present in the pictures, which are of significant importance to the main details of the stimulus
2	The C-unit is related to the stimulus, but with some inclusion of suppositional or tangential information that is relevant to the main details of the stimulus; or substantive information is not provided, so that the topic has to be inferred from the statement
3	The C-unit is only remotely related to the stimulus, with probable inclusion of improper egocentric information; it may include tangential information or reference some component of the stimulus that is regarded as non-critical
4	The C-unit is completely unrelated to the stimulus; it may be a comment on the discourse or tangential information

Variable	Age group 1 (19-24 years)	Age group 2 (25-39 years)	Age group 3 (40-59 years)	Age group 4 (60-75 years)
Cohesion (narrative)	N=39	N=21	N=21	N=10
Cohesion (narrative)	1.407 ± 0.30	1.211 ± 0.34	1.306 ± 0.47	0.901 ± 0.45
Coherence (narrative)	5.00 ± 0.00	5.00 ± 0.00	4.69 ± 0.60	3.61 ± 1.45
Cohesion (persuasive)	N=32	N=28	N=20	N=12
Cohesion (persuasive)	1.58 ± 0.62	1.52 ± 0.67	1.23 ± 0.66	1.23 ± 0.46
Coherence (persuasive)	5.00 ± 0.00	5.00 ± 0.00	4.69 ± 0.60	4.42 ± 0.46

	Sum of squares	Mean squares	df	F Value	P Value
Narrative discourse	2.03	0.67	3	4.84	0.004
Persuasive discourse	2.19	0.73	3	1.82	0.14

	χ²	df	P Value
Narrative discourse	36.24	3	0.0001
Persuasive discourse	14.68	3	0.002

Academia Brasileira de Neurologia, Departamento de Neurologia Cognitiva e Envelhecimento R. Vergueiro, 1353 sl.1404 - Ed. Top Towers Offices, Torre Norte, São Paulo, SP, Brazil, CEP 04101-000, Tel.: +55 11 5084-9463 | +55 11 5083-3876 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: revistadementia@abneuro.org.br | demneuropsy@uol.com.br

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[1] Zahra Ghayoumi-Anaraki. Department of Speech Therapy, School of Paramedical Sciences, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Bahonar Blvd., Post code: 1985713834. E-mail: ghayoumiz@mums.ac.ir