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Elderspeak is a specialized speech style used by younger adults when addressing older adults.〔Kemper, 1994〕 The speaker makes accommodations that include producing shorter, less complex sentences, using simpler vocabulary, filler words, fragmented sentences, lexical filters, and repetition.〔Ryan, E. B., Kennaley, D. E., Pratt, M. W. & Shumovich, M. A. (2000)〕 Elderspeak also includes using terms that are overly endearing, asking closed questions that prompt an answer, and using the collective “we”.〔Balsis, S., & Carpenter, B. (2006).〕 Young people tend to speak at a slower rate and include more pauses when communicating with elders.〔 This speech style is often patronizing in nature and resembles baby talk, which refers to how adults address babies and young children. It results from reliance on stereotypes about cognitive abilities of older persons. The use of elderspeak may be a result of or contribute to agism, a form of discrimination based on age differences.〔Brownell P, Kelly J J, 2013〕 Young people tend to believe that aging is associated with cognitive declines, including declines in language processing and production.〔Ryan et al., 1992〕 However, this speech pattern is primarily based on stereotypes as we also hear it being used in situations where older adults are clearly functioning well. When conversing with older persons, younger people often accommodate their speech based on their personal evaluation of their conversation partner’s ability, rather than their actual ability. Working to overcome elderspeak through awareness and self-monitoring as well as through formal educational programs are strategies individuals and other care providers can use to promote successful aging for older clients. 〔William, K., Kemper, S., & Hummert, M. (2004)〕 Therefore, although some aspects of elderspeak may be beneficial for some recipients, it is generally seen as inappropriate and can hinder intergenerational communication.〔Ryan et al., 2000〕〔 ==Elderspeak and communication accommodation== Communication accommodation theory looks at how we modify our speech for our conversation partners. 〔Giles & Ogay 2007〕 People can change their speech to be more similar to their conversation partners’ speech, which is known as convergence. In other circumstances, people may change their speech to be more distinct, a process known as divergence. Furthermore, these modifications can promote fluidity of conversation and ease understanding.〔Coupland et al., 1988〕 People tend to draw on stereotypes to infer what types of accommodations need to be made. In terms of intergenerational communication, young people tend to over-accommodate when conversing with older persons. That is, they make more adjustments than necessary. Young people tend to infer that older adults are slower at processing information and more cognitively inflexible.〔 They make these inferences based on the perception of their conversation partner as old, rather than based on information about their conversational ability. This belief leads to more accommodations than necessary. Ryan and colleagues (1986)〔 assessed several strategies used by younger individuals when accommodating to older adults which include: * Overaccommodation due to physical or sensory disabilities: speakers perceive interlocutors to have a disability affecting conversation ability, but the speaker accommodates more than necessary * Dependency-related overaccommodation: this occurs in situations where the older person is dependent on the younger person. The younger person’s speech is dominating and controlling. This pattern can be seen in interactions between an older person and their caregiver. * Age-related divergence: the young person attempts to emphasize distinctiveness of their ingroup (young) from the outgroup (old). The young person does this by speaking very quickly and using more modern colloquialisms, alienating or accentuating the differences of the older person. * Intergroup accommodation: Speaker perceives interlocutors as older, which triggers negative stereotypes about their ability. The speaker makes accommodations based on perceptions about the interlocutor’s ingroup, rather than the person themselves. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Elderspeak」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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