Semester
Fall
Date of Graduation
2005
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MA
College
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Department
World Languages, Literatures and Linguistics
Committee Chair
Johan Seynnaeve.
Committee Co-Chair
Johan Seynnaeve
Committee Member
Sandra Stjepanovic
Abstract
Recent research indicates a change in healthy elderly adult language capabilities. More specifically, Shadden (1997) and Ryan (1996) state that language competence is less affected by the processes of aging than production. The topic of this research examined specifically the production of conjunctions from the perspective of Halliday and Hasan (1976) in procedural and narrative discourse by the elderly. The hypothesis stated that the relationship between age and conjunctions produced would be non-significant. In a cross-sectional study, 17 subjects between the ages of 60-86 were interviewed and the transcripts analyzed.;Results supported the hypothesis of a non-significant relationship between age and conjunctions produced. However, the size of the tested sample limited the statistical significance of the results. Finally, factors and study limitations were examined and discussed in order to provide explanations for patterns in the results and to provide solutions for use in future research.
Recommended Citation
Haymond, Benjamin, "Production of conjunctions and T-units by the elderly" (2005). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 858.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/858