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Published on: October 13, 2018
Linear and Nonlinear Age Trajectories of Language Use: A Laboratory Observation Study of Couples' Conflict
Minxia Luo1,2, Mona Neysari1,2, Gerold Schneider3,4
1Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Objectives:
This study investigated linear and nonlinear age effects on language use with speech samples that were representative of naturally occurring conversations.
Method:
Using a corpus-based approach, we examined couples' conflict conversations in the laboratory. The conversations, from a total of 364 community-dwelling German-speaking heterosexual couples (aged 19-82), were videotaped and transcribed. We examined usage of lower-frequency words, grammatical complexity, and utterance of filled pauses (e.g., äh ["um"]).
Results:
Multilevel models showed that age effects on the usage of lower-frequency words were nonsignificant. Grammatical complexity increased until middle age (i.e., 54) and then declined. The utterance of filled pauses increased until old age (i.e., 70) and then decreased.
Discussion:
Results are discussed in relation to cognitive aging research.
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