What can be said of the normal process of aging, from a linguistic point of view? In gener
Speech is (12)_____ to be affected by reductions in the (13)_____ of the vocal organs. The muscles of the chest (14), the lungs become less elastic, the ribs (15)_____ mobile: as a result, respiratory efficiency at age 75 is only about half (16)_____ at age 30, and this has (17)_____ for the ability to speak loudly, rhythmically, and with good tone In addition, speech is affected by poorer movement of the soft palate and changes in the facial skeleton, especially around the mouth and jaw. There are other, more general signs of age. Speech rate slows, and fluency may be more erratic. Hearing (18)_____, especially after the early fifties. Weakening (19)_____ of memory and attention may affect the ability to comprehend complex speech patterns. But it is (20)_____ all had news: vocabulary awareness may continue to grow, as may stylistic ability—skills in narration, for example. And grammatical ability seems to be little affected.
A.speech
B.terms
C.ways
D.cases