ABSTRACT
Intergenerational talk is an issue that has received very little empirical attention across the disciplines, especially noninstitutionalized talk and everyday community interactions (see N. Coupland & Coupland, 1990). Later chapters turn attention to intergenerational communication in caring and institutional contexts, and to younger and older people who have familial or well-established long-term relationships. However, this chapter focuses initially on interactions between young and old strangers or acquaintances and everyday community interactions. Following the theoretical framework of communication accommodation theory (for a detailed account, see chapter 1), the issue of elder underaccommodation is discussed; after this the discussion is expanded by reviewing recent research that explores themes of intergenerational-communication satisfaction and dissatisfaction reported by young people.
