Dementia of the Alzheimer type. Language of the elderly

Dementia of the Alzheimer type. Language of the elderly –

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies – Linguistics, grade: 2,3, Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald (Institut für Anglistik/ Amerikanistik), course: Language, Mind and Brain, language: English, abstract: What is to be examined in this paper is the overview of the current research status about language pathology in Alzheimer’s disease. The errors of the language system, visible in the lexicon, semantics, lexical semantics, syntax, etc. in reading, writing and spelling of concerned people will be examined. Furthermore, the neuropathological view on the Alzheimer brain will be explained.

In between the last fifteen years, dementia has become one of the main causes of death in industrialized countries. Each year from 1996 to 2006 more than 50-60 percent of the elderly in Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain and the United States of America died of a sort of dementia. Researchers examine disease patterns of dementia and claim coherence between the lifespan of people and the outbreak of dementia diseases. Of course, statistics point out that over the last hundred years the expectancy of life of newborns rose in Germany from 44.8 percent for boys and 48.3 percent for girls in 1901 up to 74.4 percent for boys and 80.5 percent for girls in 1998. Also the lifespan of people aged 60 years and older has risen from 13.1 (males) and 14.2 (females) percent up to 18.9 (males) and 23.2 (females) percent in 1998.

Neuropathologists have been working for more than fifty years to examine and catalogue each variety of the dementia diseases, which becomes more and more difficult as specialized braincast equipments and specific knowledge are updated steadily. Since 1994 the 21st September is declared World Alzheimer’s Day™. At this special day of the year, Alzheimer associations prepare information materials and concentrate all their efforts on raising attention about dementia in the eyes of governments, society, medical professio