Language and age

Ageism: stereotyping and discriminating against individuals or groups on the basis of their age - (Kite et. al, 1005) Meta-analysis revealed that while both positive and negative stereotypes exist for people of all age ranges, the stereotypes for older people are more negative due to - Increase in tendency to medicalise the elderly (seen as patients instead of people with wisdom and life experiences) because of the development of the profitable medical industry that targets older people because they are more likely to seek it and they have the means to afford it - Growing proportion of individuals over the age of 65, could lead the younger generation to view them as a burden Worsened by the coinage and popularisation of terms such as “ageing population” that can imply heavier responsibility on the younger generation to support the future world. - In the media, portrayal of older adults that emphasise frailty, confusion and grumpiness is commonplace as a way to humour and entertain younger audiences. Modern day society as a whole also views ageing as undesirable, especially when it is evident from physical appearance shown through the fact that “anti-ageing” is a multi-billion dollar industry that continues to grow Use of labels such as “hag”, “geezer”, “grumpy old man” in media The search for positive terms for older adults – “old”, “senior”, “elderly” are all negatively connotated to be associated with frailty and limitation. The idea of being labelled or categorised as “old” is often offensive, so much so that in 2016 two-thirds of the Marist Poll respondents considered the age 65 to be “middle-aged” or even “young”. The preferred term is slowly becoming “older people”, giving the impression that the addressee is not labelled old but simply relatively older than others. - The use of positive lexis and euphemisms to represent ageing process as active and positive in contributing to society; associating the older generation with positive traits Examples from Singapore: “active ageing”, “pioneer generation” usually coined by the generation in an active effort to preserve and acknowledge the contributions and retained capability of older adults Elderspeak / ageist language: a simplified speech register that is often used with older adults driven by stereotypical perceptions of older adults implying that they need to be specially accommodated for;