“Sobre o que se fala”: organização do tópico discursivo de duas pessoas idosas com Doença de Alzheimer

Lucas Manca Dal'Ava

doi:10.14393/DLv20a2026-7

Authors

Lucas Dal'Ava State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7641-5382

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14393/DLv20a2026-7

Keywords:

Alzheimer’s disease, Narrative, Sociocognitivism, Discursive Topic, Interaction

Abstract

Population aging has intensified challenges for health systems and public policies directed at older adults (WHO, 2018; McDade; Bateman, 2017). Within this context, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia and is characterized as a progressive neurodegenerative condition affecting cognitive domains such as memory, attention, executive functions, and language (Alzheimer’s Association, 2017). Despite extensive scientific investigation, AD has often been examined through deficit-oriented perspectives, which tend to homogenize the experience of the disease and reduce affected individuals to the limitations imposed by diagnosis (Souza; Monteiro; Gonçalves, 2022). In contrast to deficit-centered approaches, this study adopts a sociocognitive perspective on language, according to which cognition and interaction are understood as inseparable processes (Koch, 2004; Jubran, 2006; Morato, 2012). From this viewpoint, linguistic-cognitive changes associated with AD are assumed to emerge from interactional dynamics, impacting discourse organization and communicative participation in situated contexts (Clark, 1996; Mira, 2019). The aim of this article is to analyze the organization of discourse topics in narratives produced by two older adults with AD during semi-structured interviews. The analysis is grounded in the assumptions of Text Linguistics, particularly the notion of discourse topic as a relational and sociocognitive category structured by the properties of centering and organization (Jubran, 2006; Galembeck, 2011; Nascimento, 2012). Methodologically, this qualitative and interpretative study employs topical frameworks to examine hierarchical and linear relations among supertopics, topics, and subtopics throughout interaction (Jubran, 2002; Fávero; Koch, 2012). The findings indicate that, despite linguistic-cognitive changes associated with AD, participants maintain discursive engagement, although they present disruptions and instabilities in topic management. These phenomena are not interpreted as individual failures, but as effects of interactional co-construction, highlighting the interlocutor’s role in the re-anchoring and continuity of discourse topics (Mentis; Briggs-Whitaker; Gramigna, 1995; Hydén; Örulv, 2008). By taking discourse topic as the central analytical axis, the study contributes to moving beyond strictly deficit-based interpretations and to broadening the understanding of linguistic participation among older adults with AD in interactional contexts.

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Author Biography

Lucas Dal'Ava, State University of Campinas (UNICAMP)

PhD in Linguistics from the Institute of Language Studies (CAPES grade 7) at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), with a CAPES scholarship. BA in Linguistics from the same Institute and BA in Speech-Language Pathology from the Faculty of Medical Sciences, UNICAMP. MA in Linguistics from the Institute of Language Studies, UNICAMP (CAPES grade 7). In 2025, completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Biology, with a focus on bioacoustics, at the Department of Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense campus. During undergraduate studies, participated in an exchange program as a CAPES/AULP scholarship holder, under the supervision of Professor Dr. Wilmar D'Angelis, in collaboration with Cape Verde, conducting research on Indigenous languages. Also held a research initiation fellowship (SAE/UNICAMP), under the supervision of Professor Dr. Plinio Almeida Barbosa, focusing on prosodic studies of speech. Member of the Speech Prosody Research Group, coordinated by Professor Dr. Plinio Almeida Barbosa. Conducted a doctoral research internship at the University of Southern Denmark, funded by CAPES/PrInt, under the supervision of Professor Dr. Coen Elemans in the group Sound, Communication and Behaviour, where he further developed expertise in bioacoustics and carried out projects analyzing and comparing hearing and vocalization across different vertebrate species. Research interests include Phonetics/Phonology and Bioacoustics with ongoing projects in these areas.

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