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Talk to Elders: Social Structure, Attitudes and Forms of Address

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Linda A. Wood  and
Ellen Bouchard Ryan
Linda A. Wood
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1G 2W1
Ellen Bouchard Ryan
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8N 3Z9
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Abstract

In the present paper we analyse some of the problems in talk to elders by examining evaluative dimensions of talk in general and of address forms in particular. We first introduce status and solidarity as primary dimensions underlying talk. We briefly review research on attitudes and talk to elders, and develop a framework in terms of status and solidarity for understanding the evaluation of talk to elders. The framework, speech accommodation theory, and politeness theory are then employed in a specific analysis of various aspects of problematic address usage: title and last name v. first name; third person; first person plural; and no-naming. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the analysis for future research, for practical applications, and for the extension and integration of theory

Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , June 1991 , pp. 167 - 187
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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References

NOTES

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