Language and Aging in Multilingual Contexts

Reviews / Votes

Scholars investigating social gerontology during the past three decades have produced an enormous amount of empirical research studying a wide variety of issues related to the aging process. Language and aging in multicultural settings: A dynamic perspective is among the best written, most comprehensive, and most compelling books to be published during this period. The authors advance a dynamic and an integrative approach toward our understanding of the aging process that places Language at the very core of any competent understanding of the aging process. This book advances our understanding of aging, the role language plays in the aging process and is certainly a must read for any scholar interested in the aging process. -- Jon F. Nussbaum, Professor of Communication & Aging and Human Development and Family Studies, Penn State University, University Park This is pioneering research. Most work on language and aging has assumed declining ability, and very little has taken the complexity of multilingual settings into account. De Bot and Makoni's book offers a thorough review of the research record. But it also decisively breaks new ground. It uses Dynamic Systems Theory to provide ways of understanding language development as continuing over the lifespan, and it tests and advances the theory in three major "situated" empirical studies involving different ethnic and linguistic communities, all in multilingual environments. The results redefine the field, prompting new directions in research and in the treatment of the elderly. -- Stanley G M Ridge, Dean: Faculty of Arts, University of the Western Cape, South Africa This valuable volume offers a complex and nuanced understanding of both language and aging while underscoring the importance relating both to larger, diverse contexts that older people find themselves in. It serves to remind us to constantly view and interpret the speech of older citizens in the most humane of terms. -- Vaidehi Ramanathan, Professor, University of California, Davis This excellent volume covers thoroughly the subject matter delineated in its title. It should be required reading for anyone who is a student in a gerontology or geriatrics program and is the best overall account of a complex set of interrelated, interdisciplinary matters related to aging, language, and multilingualism. -- Frank Nuessel, University of Louisville * Language Problems and Language Planning 31:1 * This complex book is rich with information and insight. Through its unique theoretical approach, Language and Aging in Multilingual Contexts provokes thought and curiosity about a fascinating field of study. -- Francine Conway and Nina Finkel * Volume 51, Issue 22 of PsycCRITIQUES * The studies presented in the book are important in several respects. The three studies [mentioned in the book] may represent an important step toward understanding language and aging in diverse bilingual populations. The studies reported in the book may provide important information regarding service delivery to bilingual elderly people. -- Liang Chen * Linguist List 17.384 *