Putri, Angelica Kanaya
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“SHE SLOWLY FORGETS”: A PSYCHOLINGUISTIC OBSERVATION OF MEMORY-TRIGGERED SPEECH DISRUPTION IN A GRANDMOTHER WITH DEMENTIA Putri, Angelica Kanaya; Sudarwati, Emy
Erudio Journal of Educational Innovation Vol 13, No 1 (2026): Erudio Journal of Educational Innovation
Publisher : Faculty of Administrative Science, Universitas Brawijaya

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Abstract

The aging process is widely associated with a decline in cognitive functions, particularly memory, which plays a critical role in language processing and speech production. While previous studies have extensively documented age-related memory decline and its general impact on language performance, limited attention has been given to how specific patterns of speech change manifest in aging populations, especially within diverse sociolinguistic and cultural contexts.This narrative case study explores how memory-triggered events can affect speech disruption in an 80-year-old grandmother with dementia. Utilizing Levelt's model (1999) about speech production and working memory theory, these psycholinguistics observations provide deep insight into how cognitive systems in subjects experience a decline, ultimately shape verbal outcomes. The data were collected through a qualitative method and by in-depth interviews with the caregivers as the main informants. The results revealed  three major speech patterns during her communication: repetitive utterances, decrease in syntactic complexity, and discourse coherence disruption and inconsistent name use. Furthermore, this study significantly found that these impairments function as a Memory-Triggered Speech (MTS, which means an unconscious compensatory strategy where subjects prioritize the core meaning over grammatical accuracy to maintain social interactions. The results of this study also offer a practical guidance or an insight for caregivers who are living with a dementia patient to better understand how memory can shape speech and how to develop effective communication strategies in response.