Sociolinguistics of Aging
My interest in the sociolinguistics of aging began with a simple question: How do minority language-speaking older adults navigate everyday life when they have limited proficiency in the dominant language? This question emerged from observing little-educated Taiwanese-speaking older adults, including my grandmother, struggle with language barriers in family interactions and in Taiwan’s Mandarin-dominant society. Her experiences of marginalization inspired my earliest research and continue to shape my scholarship.
For more than two decades, I have examined older adults’ language use, identity negotiation, and social participation across family, community, and long-term care settings. Drawing on life history interviews, ethnographic observation, and video-recorded naturally occurring interactions, I invesitgate how language ideologies, personal histories, and broader sociopolitical changes shape everyday interactions while highlighting older adults’ agency in maintaining identities, relationships, and social participation.
My current work focuses on communication in adult day centers in Taiwan and in an Asian American community in the United States. Based on a unique five-year longitudinal video corpus, I investigate how sociocultural contexts shape care interactions and demonstrate the interactional competence and agency of people living with dementia.
My long-term goal is to transform this longitudinal video corpus into a documentary and evidence-based training resources for caregivers and social workers, extending sociolinguistic research beyond academia.
Research Grants
2026 Multilingual dementia care: Translanguaging practices and identity negotiation 多語失智照護: 跨語實踐與身分認同協商, National Science and Technology Council
2022 – 2024 Communication in dementia care: A language socialization study 失智照護與溝通: 語言社會化觀點, Ministry of Science and Technology
2021 Media representation of dementia in Taiwan (2000-2020) 失智症的媒體論述 (2000-2020), Ministry of Science and Technology
2021 Aging, immigration, and care in Taiwan and the US: A sociolinguistic approach. Fulbright Senior Research Grant Award.
2019 – 2021 Aging in Taiwan in the 21st century: A sociolinguistic study of an elderly daycare center 老人日托中心的社會語言學研究, Ministry of Science and Technology
2012 Multilingual language socialization in adult Mandarin education in Taiwan 台灣老人與外籍配偶的「識字」教育: 多語語言社會化之探討, National Science Council
2010 Co-PI, Mental health literacy among Chinese American elders. Department of Aging and Mental Health Disparities, University of South Florida (PI: Dr. Yuri Jang)
Research Publications
Lin, S. (Forthcoming). Neurodiversity and dementia: Reframing the social in care interactions. Language in Society. In special issue “Towards a Neurodiverse Sociocultural Linguistics” edited by Ayden Parish and Kira Hall.
Lin, S. (2024). Power, solidarity, and sajiao in dementia care. Concentric: Studies in Linguistics, 50(1), 89-111.
Lin, S. (2024). Verbal play in dementia care: A longitudinal study. Pragmatics and Society, 15(1), 122-139.
Lin, S., & Hsueh, C.-H. (2022). Task-plus communication: Beyond the binary of task talk versus social talk in dementia care. In B. H. Davis, & M. Maclagan (Eds.), Dementia caregiving East and West: Issues of communication (pp. 102-113). Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholar Publishing.
Jang, Y., Huang, Y.-J., Yoon, H., & Lin, S. (2016). Correlates of self-rated health and self-rated mental health in older Chinese Americans. Social Work in Public Health, 31(4), 309-315.
Lin, S. (2015). Circulating discourses of minority education: The linguistic construction of modernity in globalizing Taiwan. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 46(1), 71-87.
Lin, S., Liu, J., & Jang, Y. (2014). The role of psychosocial and cultural factors as correlates of depressive symptoms in Chinese American older adults. Clinical Gerontologist, 37(2), 180-119.
Lin, S. (2012). Class wreckage and class re-positioning: Narratives of Japanese-educated Taiwanese. In Lois Weis and Nadine Dolby (Eds.), Social class and education: Global perspectives (pp. 73-90). New York: Routledge.
Miller, P. J., Koven, M., & Lin, S. (2011). Language socialization and narrative. In A. Duranti, E. Ochs, & B. Schieffelin (Eds.), The Handbook of Language Socialization (pp. 190-208). Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
Lin, S. (2009). How listening is silenced: A monolingual Taiwanese elder constructs identity through television viewing. Language in Society, 38, 311-337.
Work in Progress
Lin, S., & Hamilton, H. E. (In preparation). Social robots in dementia care: An interactional sociolinguistic approach.
Lin, S. (In preparation). Language socialization in later adulthood: Care interactions in Taiwan and an Asian American Community in the United States.
Lin, S. (in preparation). Language socialization of an older illiterate woman with dementia in long-term care.
Plenary Speech
Lin, S. (2024). Framing and eldercare communication: Towards a socio-cultural practices approach to language and aging. A plenary speech given in the 6th Conference on Language and Aging Research, April 10-12, 2024, Tubingen, Germany.
Recent Conference Presentations
Lin, S., Hamilton, H. E., & Chen, S.-Y. (2025). Negotiation of understanding in human-robot conversations in dementia care. Paper presented at the 19th International Pragmatics (IPrA) Conference, June 22-27. Brisbane, Australia.
Lin, S. (2025). A socio-cultural approach to eldercare communication: Ethnographic insights from adult day centers in Taiwan. Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Conference. January 15-19, Seattle, USA.
Lin, S. (2023). Blending frames in dementia care: Creating moments of meaningful interactions. Paper presented in the AAAL 2023 conference, Portland, Oregon.
Lin, S., & Hsueh, C.-H. (2022). Communication in dementia care in adult day centers: A cross-cultural sociolinguistic study in Taiwan and the US. Paper presented at the 2022 Asia Pacific Regional Conference of Alzheimer's Disease International, Taipei.
Lin, S. (2022) “I can naturally infantilize myself in front of the elders!” Co-constructing relational identities through sajiao in dementia care. Taiwan Society for Anthropology and Ethnology Annual Meeting (台灣人類學與民族學年會), National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Lin, S. (June 27-July 2, 2021). Conversation as inclusion: Verbal play in dementia care. 17th International Pragmatics (IPrA) Conference Online.
Lin, S. (2020). From infantilizing to collaborating: Interactions in an adult day center in Taiwan. The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting Online.
Recent Invited Talks
Language Inequality in Media: How Media Language Shapes Inclusion and Exclusion (誰被排除在外？台灣的語言與媒體). Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, National Cheng Kung University. May 11, 2026.
Taiwanese-speaking Generation: Women's Language and Life Histories from the Japanese Colonial Period to the Postwar Era (台語世代：日治到戰後女性的語言與生命史). Taiwan Multicultural Counseling Association. April 19, 2026.
"Older Students" in Long-Term Care: Understanding Aging Care through Cultural and Communication Perspectives (「老學生」的長照日常：以文化與溝通面向理解高齡照護). Language Teaching Center, National Kaohsiung Normal University. November 3, 2025.
Innovative Technology, Compassionate Care: An Interactional Sociolinguistic Study of Social Robots in Dementia Care (新科技，心照顧－社交機器人用於失智照護之互動社會語言學研究). Taiwan Society for Disability Studies. June 18, 2025.
Sociolinguistics of Aging (高齡社會語言學). Center of Language and Culture Teaching, National Kaohsiung Normal University. April 28, 2025.
Negotiating Identities through Class Participation: Voices from Domestic and International Students in Taiwan. Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, National Cheng Kung University. March 31, 2025.
"Kebbi, Are You a Girl?": Conversations Between Older Adults with Dementia and a Social Robot ("Kebbi, 你敢是查某的？"失智長輩與機器人開講). Medical Taiwanese General Education Course, National Cheng Kung University. March 31, 2025.
Relational Care and Dementia: An Interactional Sociolinguistic Study. Joint Research Initiative: Vieillesse (Aging), University of Lyon 2 and University of Lyon 3, France. March 13, 2025. (Online)
Towards a Sociocultural Understanding of Eldercare Communication. University of Duisburg-Essen Student Conference. November 21, 2024. (Online)
Person-Centered Taiwanese Care for Older Adults: Language Play and the Use of Robots in Dementia Care (以人為本的台語老人照護：語言遊戲佮機器人的照護運用). Medical Taiwanese General Education Course, National Cheng Kung University. October 14, 2024.
Creating Meaningful Interactions in Dementia Care: An Interactional Sociolinguistic Study. University of Duisburg-Essen. July 10, 2024.
Workshop on Language of Care and Dementia. University of Duisburg-Essen. July 9, 2024.
The Life Stories of Linguistic Marginalization through Taiwanese Oral Histories: Forgotten Stories of Older Taiwanese ((英語台語雙語演講)對台語口述歷史看語言邊緣人的性命經驗：台灣老大人 hőng 放袂記的故事). Bilingual (English–Taiwanese) Lecture. General Education Course Successful Aging from a Psychological Perspective, National Cheng Kung University. May 16, 2024.
Aging in and out of Place: A Sociolinguistic Ethnography of Adult Day Care Centers in Taiwan and the United States (在(異)地老化：台灣與美國日照中心的社會語言學田野紀錄). World Taiwan Culture Forum. March 16, 2024.
Connecting Generations, Constructing Diversity: Forgotten Cultures through Oral Histories of Older Taiwanese Speakers (連結時(世)代、建構多元：從閩南語老人口述歷史看台灣被遺忘的文化). Taiwan Multicultural Counseling Association. November 26, 2023.
Multicultural Counseling Grounded in Taiwan: Social Justice Counseling from Local Perspectives and Practice (與土地接軌的多元文化心理師：社會正義諮商的台灣觀點與實務應用). Taiwan Multicultural Counseling Association. September 17, 2023. (with Yi-Fang Chiu, Licensed Psychologist)
Verbal Play in Dementia Care: A Longitudinal Study. Department of English, National Taiwan Normal University. November 25, 2022.
Multilingual Classroom Discourse and Interaction: A Language Socialization Perspective. TESOL Program, Department of English, National Taiwan Normal University. April 29, 2022.
Doing Health Communication Research with Older Adults: Insights from Taiwan & U.S. Cross-cultural Fieldwork. University of San Francisco. April 25, 2022.
Fostering Cognitive and Affective Improvement in Dementia Care through Verbal Play. M.S. Health & Aging Program, Georgetown University. November 19, 2021.