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真實性之建構與浮現

Abstract

Many studies have shown that people living with dementia (PLWD) are not “empty shells” (Kontos, 2006). Despite living with a neurodegenerative disease, they maintain selfhood as well as significant cognitive and social strengths. It follows that “person-centered care” for PLWD (Kitwood, 1997) with meaningful social interactions is not only necessary but also morally and ethically obligatory (Corwin, 2020; Hamilton, 2019). However, many sociolinguistically oriented scholars have shown that communication in (dementia) eldercare is characterized by the predominance of task talk and infantilizing speech (also called patronizing speech or elderspeak) instead of relational and social talk. This research has suggested that it is power and control rather than solidarity that dominates the care relationship, with the older adults being positioned and treated as childlike, dependent, and powerless. Based on two years of fieldwork in two adult day centers (ADCs) in Taiwan, which involved participant observation, video-recordings of naturally-occurring interactions, and interviews, this study reports on rich social engagement and meaningful interactions between the caregivers and PLWD. In particular, I focus on how the speech style of sajiao – a set of verbal and nonverbal practices that express vulnerability and playfulness through imitating a child’s immature behavior (Farris, 1995; Yueh, 2017) – is used by the care participants to co-construct and negotiate relational identities. Caregivers of both sexes employ and perform sajiao as part of a communicative repertoire for person-centered care for PLWD. It is used in social talk to greet, to play, and to relate as well as in task-oriented talk to plead, to persuade, and to blend the playful, intimate social frame into the task frame of interaction. PLWD of both sexes respond positively and some occasionally initiate the sajiao interactions. Through sajiao, the caregivers position themselves and are positioned as playful children, and the older adults position themselves and are positioned as respectful, powerful, and yet fun-loving elders. Non-elicited metapragmatic comments from caregivers indicate that sajiao come naturally for them in the intergenerational interactions with the elders whether they were previously the “sajiao type” of person or not. They relish being able to be their “authentic selves” while enjoying the friendly, reciprocal pseudo-family relationship with the elders through sajiao. Although features of sajiao partially overlap with those of infantilizing speech (e.g. high pitch, rising intonation, sentence final particles, tag questions, terms of endearment), sustained consistent ethnographic observation and detailed analysis of the production, reception, and uptake of these communicative practices reveal that they are intersubjectively perceived as distinct, with one indexing authenticity (Coupland, 2014), care, and solidarity, and the other indexing control and power. This study thus argues for a practice approach (Bourdieu, 1977) to eldercare communication that takes into account not only the semiotic features of the communication but also their embeddedness within other discursive and semiotic practices in the situational, social, cultural, historical context.

Keywords: Dementia, communication in eldercare, sajiao, authenticity, identity

摘要

本論文延續作者探討直播主如何與觀眾互動中呈現「真實自我」的研究 (Hsiao 2022)，聚焦於直播主「日常活動」之真實性。文獻指出（see, for example, Burgess and Green 2009），觀眾對網路互動平台的真實性要求高於對傳統媒體的要求。除了直播主的真實個性，本文接續探討觀眾如何評價、回應直播主的「日常生活」活動和才藝。明確地說，為了證明鏡頭前的他們與下了直播平台的個人生活無異，許多直播主經常表示，「與你們(觀眾)聊天、彈琴，或者邊聊天邊煮晚餐，都是我日常生活的一部份。」根據作者的田野調查，確實不少直播節目的內容和活動類型是重覆的，諸如唱歌、做瑜伽、閒聊、打掃房間。本論文參考「無聊美學」（Zhang 2018，2021）和「無聊創意」（boredom creativity）（Peeren 2019）的研究框架，探討反覆出現的活動類型之真實性，尤其是觀眾喜歡直播主呈現真實日常生活但又隱約期待不流於俗套常規之亮點的心理、以及直播主和觀眾對「不刻意準備之表演」的討論。作者持續在臺灣的浪(Lang Live)直播平台進行田野調查，觀察3至5個直播節目，探究直播主如何使用符號資源（semiotic resources）和情感身體，或展演或即興，詮釋、實踐「日常活動」真實性。

關鍵字：直播節目、日常生活、真實性、無聊、創意