Memories and Identities in Conversation with Dementia

This chapter uses tools from Systemic Functional Linguistics to analyze how two women with dementia share autobiographical memories in conversation. Dialogic interaction is fundamental to human experience, and the sharing of memories is in essence a process of dialogic sense-making. Shared autobiographical stories are part of the dialogic construction and projection of public identities. Autobiographical talk in the conversation analyzed here is sketchy in terms of experiential detail, but rich in appraisal; it is used to construct positive past identities that reflect on present selves. In addition, identity projection and evaluative stances are dynamically adjusted in light of the conversation partner’s reactions, which points to intact dialogic sense-making skills in the presence of moderate dementia.