Medical discourse in a hispanic environment
Cordelia, Marisa,, 22, 35-50 (1999),
doi = https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.22.2.03cor,
publicationName = John Benjamins,
issn = 0155-0640,
abstract= This paper gives a preliminary insight into Hispanic medical discourse. It explores how a physician exercises power and simpatía in conversations with patients and it includes patients’ perception about good medical practice. The focus is on the analysis of a conversation tape-recorded between the most popular and likeable doctor in the clinic and a female patient. This interaction is compared with the results obtained from a semi-structured interview aiming to discover if this medical exchange represents what patients have identified as positive medical behaviour. The Hispanic data demonstrate that the doctor uses a variety of strategies in the exchange in order to show both his medical knowledge and his linguistic competence in expressing simpatía in discourse. The latter helps to create a pleasant atmosphere in an interaction in which the doctor’s use of the language is paramount.,
language=,
type=