N. K. Chadha

Bilingualism and Lexical Representation

Forty-eight Hindi-English bilinguals completed two blocks of trials where each trial involved presentation of a letter string requiring a lexical decision. In the first block subjects were exposed to 22 words and 11 non-words in either English or Hindi. In the second block the original words were repeated in either the same language or in the alternative language. In this block the old (repeated) words were mixed with 22 new words, and 22 non-words. Twelve subjects were included in each of the four groups given by the factorial combination of blocks and languages. Reaction time in the lexical decision task was facilitated when words were repeated in the same language (109 and 125 ms in the English-English and Hindi-Hindi groups respectively), but little or no facilitation was observed in the inter-lingual conditions (-22 and 23 ms in the Hindi-English and English-Hindi conditions respectively). The results support the view that lexical representation in bilinguals is language-specific.

Personal networks and sacred texts: Social aging in Delhi, India

Social aging of residents of a middle-class neighborhood of Delhi, India is examined from a personal network perspective. The analysis reported here addresses the size and composition of personal networks of a random sample of men and women 55 years and older. Analysis of the entire sample indicates no age related reduction in network size among people 74 years and below. Among older persons in age strata 75 years old and above there is a substantial reduction in network size. In addition to being influenced by a persons age, network size is also influenced by gender, health status, and household resource control but not by the material style of life of the household and household type. The results of this analysis are interpreted in terms of Hindu sacred texts that describe the ideal life course and comparison with related studies from India and the United States.

Social networks of old people in India: research and policy.

Summary This article presents a comparative analysis of the available research on the social networks of older persons in India. Most of this research has been done in North Indian cities. The research foci of the available studies include network size, core networks and beyond, life course changes in networks, impacts of residency in old-age homes, gender differences, and joint and nuclear family residence. This research is discussed in terms of its policy implications. Because the research demonstrates that social networks are important for the welfare of older Indians, one can conclude that social policy that encourages the maintenance of robust networks throughout the life course may be worth pursuing. One aspect of policy is discussed. The analysis of the relationship between social network and gender suggests that current policies that can be seen as supporting gender inequality in terms of property may have a negative impact on the networks of older women.

The other side of being old

IN TODAY’S CONTEMPORARY WORLD, WHERE INTENSE FOCUS ON YOUTH is found in various walks of life. ‘Old’ is a strong workconjuring myriad negative images. We make many decisions or have them made for us, based on assumptions about age. ‘Old’ in effect is something that most of us would prefer not to be. Thus, making it difficult to treat growing or being old objectively. Age is so contaminated with value implications that we may hesitate to own up to our years or to refer to a loved one as ‘Old’, for fear of insulting him. Our ability to think rationally about age and make reasonable decisions is coloured by this.

Culture and aging

An attempt is made to integrate the two diverse concepts viz., ‘culture’ and aging based on different theoretical perspectives. During the course of life, individual learns to imbibe cultural ‘norms’ and ‘experiences’. Thus ‘chronological’ age and ‘cultural’ age are related yet distinct entity. Age stratification leads to formation of a ‘age-based subculture’, which brings with it varied negative implications.