Tired mind or tired hand?
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Anja Voeste
Abstract
During the years 1856–1902 the Baltic German nobleman Eduard von Oettingen wrote regularly to his wife Julie. Comparing three different time phases (letters written at the age of 27–30, 45–49 and 66–69), I will discuss potential age-dependent changes in syntactic complexity, lexical frequency as well as in readability scores and carry out a lexical-semantic analysis using LIWC2007. My case study shows that the majority of alterations lie within von Oettingen’s middle adulthood, when he was at the height of his career and experiencing a substantial workload. Linguistic changes in his late adulthood however may be due to a ‘tired hand’, i.e. to the increased amount of energy needed to fulfil the task of writing by hand.
Abstract
During the years 1856–1902 the Baltic German nobleman Eduard von Oettingen wrote regularly to his wife Julie. Comparing three different time phases (letters written at the age of 27–30, 45–49 and 66–69), I will discuss potential age-dependent changes in syntactic complexity, lexical frequency as well as in readability scores and carry out a lexical-semantic analysis using LIWC2007. My case study shows that the majority of alterations lie within von Oettingen’s middle adulthood, when he was at the height of his career and experiencing a substantial workload. Linguistic changes in his late adulthood however may be due to a ‘tired hand’, i.e. to the increased amount of energy needed to fulfil the task of writing by hand.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of abbreviations vii
- Investigating the lifespan perspective 1
- Disassociating the effects of age from phonetic change 9
- Phonological variation in real time 39
- Language production in late life 59
- Vocabulary and dementia in six novelists 77
- A sociolinguistic perspective on vocabulary richness in a seven-year comparison of older adults 109
- Age-related variation and language change in Early Modern English 129
- Lifespan and linguistic awareness 147
- Tired mind or tired hand? 167
- Kriegsausbruch, Kriegs Ausbruch, KriegsAusbruch 189
- Index 231
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of abbreviations vii
- Investigating the lifespan perspective 1
- Disassociating the effects of age from phonetic change 9
- Phonological variation in real time 39
- Language production in late life 59
- Vocabulary and dementia in six novelists 77
- A sociolinguistic perspective on vocabulary richness in a seven-year comparison of older adults 109
- Age-related variation and language change in Early Modern English 129
- Lifespan and linguistic awareness 147
- Tired mind or tired hand? 167
- Kriegsausbruch, Kriegs Ausbruch, KriegsAusbruch 189
- Index 231
