From hindsight to insight: retrospective analysis of language written by a renowned Alzheimer's patient
From hindsight to insight: retrospective analysis of language written by a renowned Alzheimer's patient
Among the early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease is a gradual decline of language skills. Longitudinal studies are a useful way to study the development of linguistic abilities in the course of a person's lifetime; subjects producing sufficient language output to allow a study spanning decades are rare but can provide valuable information. In this study, we analysed lexical diversity in three books by Gerard Reve (1923-2006), an acclaimed Dutch literary author who wrote his last novel not long before diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The data show a clear-cut decline in lexical diversity, coinciding with a reported 'forgetfulness' starting halfway during the creative process of writing this last novel. The findings match those of Garrard et al. (2005) in their study of Iris Murdoch.
language literature, alzheimer's dementia
278-286
van Velzen, Marjolein
a1cf143e-932b-465b-91e6-2b8049b2df6e
Garrard, Peter
9016944f-8766-4df5-83bc-5fda650bd22e
December 2008
van Velzen, Marjolein
a1cf143e-932b-465b-91e6-2b8049b2df6e
Garrard, Peter
9016944f-8766-4df5-83bc-5fda650bd22e
van Velzen, Marjolein and Garrard, Peter
(2008)
From hindsight to insight: retrospective analysis of language written by a renowned Alzheimer's patient.
Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 33 (4), .
(doi:10.1179/174327908X392852).
Abstract
Among the early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease is a gradual decline of language skills. Longitudinal studies are a useful way to study the development of linguistic abilities in the course of a person's lifetime; subjects producing sufficient language output to allow a study spanning decades are rare but can provide valuable information. In this study, we analysed lexical diversity in three books by Gerard Reve (1923-2006), an acclaimed Dutch literary author who wrote his last novel not long before diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The data show a clear-cut decline in lexical diversity, coinciding with a reported 'forgetfulness' starting halfway during the creative process of writing this last novel. The findings match those of Garrard et al. (2005) in their study of Iris Murdoch.
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Published date: December 2008
Keywords:
language literature, alzheimer's dementia
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 66471
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/66471
ISSN: 0308-0188
PURE UUID: 16c1d7d3-83f4-4f9c-af93-c45cbac6450b
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Date deposited: 22 Jun 2009
Last modified: 13 Mar 2024 18:21
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Contributors
Author:
Marjolein van Velzen
Author:
Peter Garrard
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