Discourse Tact in Doctor-Patient Interactions in English: An Analysis of Diagnosis in Medical Communication in Nigeria

This study describes discourse tact in diagnoses in doctor-patient interactions in English in selected hospitals in South-western Nigeria. Using recorded conversations between doctors and patients in those hospitals as data, the mutual contextual beliefs of participants, speech act patterns, includi...

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Autori principali: Adegbite, Wale, Odebunmi, Akin
Natura: Articolo
Lingua:inglese
Pubblicazione: 2014
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author Adegbite, Wale
Odebunmi, Akin
author_facet Adegbite, Wale
Odebunmi, Akin
author_sort Adegbite, Wale
collection DSpace
description This study describes discourse tact in diagnoses in doctor-patient interactions in English in selected hospitals in South-western Nigeria. Using recorded conversations between doctors and patients in those hospitals as data, the mutual contextual beliefs of participants, speech act patterns, including linguistic patterns, and other pragmatic features are analyzed from the perspective of the pragmatics of discourse. The findings indicate the predominance of doctor-initiated spoken exchanges in which doctors elicit and confirm information and give directives to patients, while the patients give information and attempt to respond appropriately to the doctors' moves. It is also observed that conversation maxims are flouted and politeness maxims exploited in order to enhance successful diagnosis in the interaction. Finally, it is observed that doctor-patient interaction is only one out of many aspects of medical communication that require the attention of language scholars in order to gain insight into language as an act of social behaviour and action, especially with respect to the institution of medicine.
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spelling oai:ir.oauife.edu.ng:123456789-26692023-05-13T11:05:35Z Discourse Tact in Doctor-Patient Interactions in English: An Analysis of Diagnosis in Medical Communication in Nigeria Adegbite, Wale Odebunmi, Akin Discourse tact Doctor-patient interaction Diagnostic interaction Medical communication This study describes discourse tact in diagnoses in doctor-patient interactions in English in selected hospitals in South-western Nigeria. Using recorded conversations between doctors and patients in those hospitals as data, the mutual contextual beliefs of participants, speech act patterns, including linguistic patterns, and other pragmatic features are analyzed from the perspective of the pragmatics of discourse. The findings indicate the predominance of doctor-initiated spoken exchanges in which doctors elicit and confirm information and give directives to patients, while the patients give information and attempt to respond appropriately to the doctors' moves. It is also observed that conversation maxims are flouted and politeness maxims exploited in order to enhance successful diagnosis in the interaction. Finally, it is observed that doctor-patient interaction is only one out of many aspects of medical communication that require the attention of language scholars in order to gain insight into language as an act of social behaviour and action, especially with respect to the institution of medicine. 2014-08-18T07:37:27Z 2018-10-27T14:59:23Z 2014-08-18T07:37:27Z 2018-10-27T14:59:23Z 2006 Article Adegbite, Wale and Odebunmi, Akin (2006). Discourse Tact in Doctor-Patient Interactions in English: An Analysis of Diagnosis in Medical Communication in Nigeria. Nordic Journal of African Studies, 15(4). http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/2669 en PDF application/pdf Nigeria
spellingShingle Discourse tact
Doctor-patient interaction
Diagnostic interaction
Medical communication
Adegbite, Wale
Odebunmi, Akin
Discourse Tact in Doctor-Patient Interactions in English: An Analysis of Diagnosis in Medical Communication in Nigeria
title Discourse Tact in Doctor-Patient Interactions in English: An Analysis of Diagnosis in Medical Communication in Nigeria
title_full Discourse Tact in Doctor-Patient Interactions in English: An Analysis of Diagnosis in Medical Communication in Nigeria
title_fullStr Discourse Tact in Doctor-Patient Interactions in English: An Analysis of Diagnosis in Medical Communication in Nigeria
title_full_unstemmed Discourse Tact in Doctor-Patient Interactions in English: An Analysis of Diagnosis in Medical Communication in Nigeria
title_short Discourse Tact in Doctor-Patient Interactions in English: An Analysis of Diagnosis in Medical Communication in Nigeria
title_sort discourse tact in doctor patient interactions in english an analysis of diagnosis in medical communication in nigeria
topic Discourse tact
Doctor-patient interaction
Diagnostic interaction
Medical communication
url http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/2669
work_keys_str_mv AT adegbitewale discoursetactindoctorpatientinteractionsinenglishananalysisofdiagnosisinmedicalcommunicationinnigeria
AT odebunmiakin discoursetactindoctorpatientinteractionsinenglishananalysisofdiagnosisinmedicalcommunicationinnigeria