“I have to be sincere, my mind is failing at times” Expressing memory loss in the face of Alzheimer’s Dementia

Abstract Summary

Abstract :

“I have to be sincere, my mind is failing at times” – Expressing memory loss in the face of Alzheimer’s Dementia







Keywords: language and identity, emotions, dementia, pragmatics, emotional state















The aging population is increasingly affected by neurocognitive diseases like Alzheimer’s Dementia (AD), hence it is hardly surprising that the number of bilingual persons living with Alzheimer’s dementia (PWA) has increased, too. In dementia discourses, PWA are often approached as a homogenous and passive group, who are seen as controlled by the disease (Schneider/Bös 2019). The same holds for general views of language use and code choice by PWA, which usually suggest that PWA are no longer in control of their language capacities.







Drawing on a qualitative analysis of narrative interviews held with PWA speaking English and Spanish, this study investigates PWA’s expressions about their own memory loss, and considers the interplay of PWA’s perception of memory loss with linguistic AD symptoms (Ferris/Farlow 2013) in the discursive production of self (Sabat/Harre 1992). PWA’s claims about self are conceptionalized in the broader framework of identity work (Bucholtz/Hall 2005) in verbal interaction (Davis 2016), thus shedding light on expressions of emotional state by those experiencing memory loss. Furthermore, this paper illustrates pragmatic strategies, among others interjections or response cries (Goffman 1981), which serve as valuable tools to level out the ‘‘‘unbecoming’’ […] self’ (cf. Fontana/Smith 1989: 36) and maintain face in the narration of experiencing AD.







In sum, this study investigates the pragmatic triangulation of self-perception of AD, emotional state and identity construction in order to raise awareness for conscious and active communicative interaction in the face of dementia.