Intratextuality, intertextuality, and the construction of identity as patient in Alzheimer’s disease

• Published in: Text & talk 1996, Vol.16 (1), p.61-90
• Main Author: HAMILTON, HEIDI E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alzheimer's Disease; Cognitive Functioning; Conversation; Discourse Analysis; Discourse semiotics; Discourse studies; Diseases; Identity; Interpersonal Communication; Intertextuality; Linguistics; Self Concept
• ISSN: 0165-4888; 1860-7330; 1613-4117; 1860-7349
• DOI: 10.1515/text.1.1996.16.1.61

It is asserted that both a linguistically informed examination of the dynamic process of identity co-construction in individual conversations & a linguistic approach to intertextuality across conversations are required for the understanding of how language helps formulate & maintain the relatively stable identities of interlocutors. The role of inter- & intratextuality in the social construction of identity are considered, as is the connection between the health of institutionalized older adults & communication. Data from two naturally occurring conversations with a woman, aged 82, with Alzheimer's disease is chronicled. An intratextual analysis of the conversations examines the S's apparent inability to switch mental sets. The interlocutor's response to S's comments identify her as peer, patient, patient with physical inability to move, & patient with mental inability to speak for herself. The S's attempt to fend off this identity with a face-saving strategy is described. Intertextual analyses of the conversations are also supplied, & it is determined that the vagueness of certain of the interlocutor's answers may have contributed to the S's construction of a patient identity. 1 Figure, 66 References. Adapted from the source document