agegraded

Age-graded refers to linguistic variation that correlates with a speaker’s age, reflecting changes in language use across the life cycle. In sociolinguistics, an age-graded feature shows systematic differences in frequency or realization among different age groups, and these differences often follow a life-cycle pattern as individuals move through adolescence, adulthood, and older age. This means that the same speaker may shift how they use a feature as they age, and patterns observed across an age range may not indicate a permanent change in any single person.

Age-graded variation is distinct from a generational (cohort) change. Cross-sectional studies that compare speakers of different ages can resemble generational shifts, but age grading emphasizes changes tied to aging within the life span. Longitudinal data or careful cross-sectional analyses are needed to separate true life-cycle changes from cohort replacement, where new generations bring different norms into a community.

Mechanisms underlying age-graded patterns include social identity, style shifting, peer group influence, and life-stage experiences. Researchers study age-graded variation through sociolinguistic interviews, elicited tasks, and natural speech, often controlling for variables such as region, socio-economic status, and gender. While specific features vary by language and community, age grading is a widespread phenomenon and has been documented in many languages as part of regular language variation.

See also: sociolinguistics, language variation, life-cycle effects, cohort effects, Labovian sociolinguistics.