HUE

UNIVERSITY
INFORMATICS AND OPEN INSTITUTE
--------------

ASSIGNMENT ON

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

TOPIC:
MEDICAL DISCOURSE COMMUNITY

Lecturer: NGUYỄN VĂN TUẤN

Student: PHẠM NHỊ HÀ LINH
Class: HỒ CHÍ MINH 3
 0
I. Introduction
Medical discourse not only allows medical professionals to communicate
among each other, but it is also the link between the medical profession and the
public, including patients. As pointed out by scholars such as Gotti and Salager-
Meyer (2006: 10), medicine has always occupied a prominent place in all
cultures and times, for the simple reason that it affects the health and lives of all
human beings. Furthermore, as shown by the growing number of medical
journals as well as non-medical journals devoted to the study of medical
discourse, medical communication has become a cornerstone of our society.
Access to specialised discourse is no longer restricted to the privileged few
(Pilegaard, 2007) and, as Weingart (2002: 704) observes, by entering the public
arena, knowledge, in this case medical knowledge, is subjected to the judgement
and evaluation of society. The need to communicate, to take into consideration
the other (the patient, the medical student, the general public, etc.), the need to
be aware of the ethical implications involved and to become conscious of the
factors which are decisive in order for communication to be successful – all of
these are key aspects for the achievement of successful communication, for
establishing a fruitful and dynamic dialogue between science, i.e. medicine, and
society. On the other hand, these issues have no doubt contributed to the
increasing interest in the study of medical discourse in a wide variety of settings
and from a wide range of perspectives.Another key issue in today’s medical
discourse, closely related to the aspects mentioned above, is popularisation,
aimed at making specialised, medical knowledge accessible to the layman.
According to Gotti (2014: 19), popularisation has greatly influenced the
discourse of medicine, enhancing both new textual realisations (e.g. genres such
as popular science articles) and new formats for the dissemination and sharing of
knowledge (not only limited to specialised journals and forums, but also the
media and other formats available and easily accessible to the general public).
In the last few years medical discourse has shown important variations
deriving from a host of factors, such as cultural aspects, community membership,
professional expertise and generic conventions. Moreover, a few research
projects have pointed out differentiations in the behaviour of medical writers
compared to that of members of other disciplinary fields.
In the study of discourse and medicine at the same time expose us to
established culture. As historically established practices, forms of medical
discourse have a role in cultural production and reproduction. Effective
1
intervention in intelligent assessment processes of communication practices in
sociocultural contexts. In addition, some of the key issues related to medical
discourse used in the context of word-of-mouth and disseminating medical
research findings and health care information are also explored the remarkable
diversity of research topics, data, and methods applied in these areas of medical
discourse investigation.
II. Content
1. Definition of Discourse
The term “discourse” is a complex and mammoth-like interpretation.
Many previous studies mention the term discourse as very ambiguous since its
introduction to modern science and the various broad interpretations of
discourse. Therefore, the definition of discourse reflected here will focus on the
linguistics point of view, especially that of applied linguistics. Here, it refers to
the speech patterns and how language, dialects, and acceptable statements are
used in a particular community.
Discourse as a subject of study looks at discourse among people who share
the same speech conventions. Moreover, discourse refers to the linguistics of
language use as a way of understanding interactions in a social context,
specifically the analysis of occurring connected speech or written discourse,
Dakowska (2001) in Hamuddin (2012).
As a macro level in society, discourse impinges on patients and doctor as
part of social context in medical field. Meanwhile as micro level, discourse
influences for doctor-patients interaction, in communication about illness,
healing or medical treatment.
2. The formation of a discourse community
2.1. The sociology of medical discourse
In addition to the emphasis on experimental activity, an important aspect
of the new scientific method includes the need that both the procedure and the
results of these experiments be known to the entire learned world. Furthermore, it
is necessary to socialize the discoveries made and new ideas developed, the
publication of experiments will also have a socialization function, since this
exchange of information can promote the new professional relationships and
strengthen existing ones, thus facilitating the formation of a new scientific
community.
2.2. The clarity of medical discourse

2
In medical discourse, the researcher must structure his or her discourse in
an appropriate way, not only to ensure a more successful discursive outcome for
his or her own argument text, but also because that way , he can facilitate the
interlocutor's interpretive task, the use of ambiguous terminology is considered
unacceptable, as it is considered a serious obstacle to argument accurate and
effective communication between scientists. This terminology problem is
considered central to scientific procedures, since writers' use of cryptic language
would not only prevent them from being understood, but would also not be fully
accepted within the scientific community adjective used to define the style
applied in scientific arguments is civilized, they accept a fair attitude towards
their interlocutors and respect those who share their views with them. Adopting
a 'civil' style also implies that the scientist should always be open to criticism
and willing to reconsider his or her conclusions once it has been shown that
other theories are convincing than his theory.
2.3. The frugality of medical discourse
Another principle often pointed out is the frugality of discourse.
According to this principle, sentences should be as concise as possible, with no
space for unnecessary details. Another feature of the language that ensures
maximum intelligibility is the use of a simple style, based on verb forms and
simple sentence structures.
3. Gesture and Embodied Communicative Action
Gesture, posture, and speech equally result meaning in interaction of
medical. Patients’ position can make body parts are able to see by doctor.
Medical discourse spirited two streams of work starting in 1960s, they are
macro-analytic and micro-analytic. Actually, the analysis of medical discourse
concept has been employed, for example on training and also certifying doctor
candidates.
It is unfortunate that, on medical discourse, much of the literature delimits
itself in biomedical settings to practitioner-patient interaction and adjusts
proposals for upgrading communication to biomedical models of the patient
doctor gathering, such as a “biopsychosocial” or “patientcentered” approach.
Among practitioners, communication influences health seekers’ experiences.
This strict statement is supported by many sorts analyses of discursive events
implicating practitioners intercommunicating with each other : grand rounds
(Atkinson 1999, Martin 1992), medical school lectures (Linthorst et al. 2007,
Martin 1992), team meetings of occupational therapists (Mattingly 1998b, and
clinical settings where an attending physician consults specialists (Cicourel
1992).
3
4. Medical Discourse as Anthropological Concern
Medical discourse is placed in a generalist pattern but in anthropological
concerns. Limiting the connection between discourse and medicine largely
creates a sense of anthropology. Although some points of connection can only
be mentioned.
Discussing medical discourse specifically requires general understanding,
which can help us avoid the importance of medical care. Discuss illness, perhaps
addressing non-medical topics such as speaker characteristics (not illness),
family resources, relationships, and moral context.
 Paying attention to all the sign patterns in discursive events also frees us
from the grip of referential linguistic ideologies. Speech that is considered
healing may never mention the illness or the healing or the people present. For
example, the Javanese wayang (shadow puppet play) refers to events in the old
court. The healing effect here depends on the symbolism between the two
actions in Coyote's time and the two steps—performance and healing—in ritual
time. Similar stories can be used to cause illness as well as cure, just as in
Bangladesh, Quranic verses can be inserted into amulets for healing or, if
written or read backwards, to curse. Here again, sign making is important for
event meaning.
Criticism of the social context usually doesn't come up in medical
encounters. When contextual issues arise in medical discourse, messages of
ideology and social control can become apparent, often unaware of the
participants. By alleviating the physical or psychological impact of situational
difficulties, or by encouraging patients to adhere to key expectations of desired
behavior, meetings with physicians can help achieve obtain patient consent for
troublesome social conditions. Seen in this light, doctor-patient encounters
become micropolitical situations that often discourage medical professionals
from making explicit statements or actions to change the contextual origins of
the cause. difficult for their patients. A critical theory influenced by
structuralism suggests that the superficial meanings of signs in medical
discourse appear to be less important than their structural relationships. In
addition, a theoretical approach that applies elements of post-structuralism and
Marxist literary criticism emphasizes marginal, absent, or excluded elements of
medical discourse. The contextual features that form a text include social class,
gender, age, and race. Through the basic structure of medical discourse,
contextual problems are expressed, eliminated, and managed.
5. Cultural Variation and Globalization

4
Both commonalities and variation in medical discourse interest
anthropologists. Studies of symbolic healing have offered putative universals
(Dow 1986) or have located shamanic chants somewhere between “our physical
medicine and psychological therapies”. We ought, however, add a layer of
reflexivity to such comparisons, asking why they appeal to Navajos among
others. Thus our interest in the rich global diversity of discursive and
interactional structures present in healing encounters, classifying discourses,
reflections on healing signs, and illness talk invites analysis in and of itself, but
the interest endures. Consider the rule among Aboriginal occupants of Darwin
fringe camps banning talk about one’s past serious illnesses (Sansom 1982).
Such stories belong instead to those whose interventions saved one’s life.
Sansom in Wilce (2009) studied this after asking a man about his racking cough
and being told that someone coming soon could explain it, no one could.
The stakes of medical discourse go beyond meaning and the reproduction
of cultural sensibilities and encompass social transformation/reproduction.
6. Interactional Textuality and Healing (Treatment)
In cultural context, forms of interactional textuality such as the
achievement of coordination in turn taking, or alignment toward a shared sense
of the activity at hand, can take on affective meanings such as intimacy.
Senegalese patients ground the efficacy of encounters with se´rin˜s (vernacular
healers, marabouts) in that intimacy, coupled with hierarchy.
Textuality, Translated or not, discourse is variably coherent, memorable,
quotable, and thus “textual.” From any case of speech in interaction two kinds of
“textuality,” or structures of coherence, can emerge: interactional textuality, i.e.,
the social acts, shift performed in talk (including outcomes like being insulted);
and denotational textuality (Silverstein 2004), the quotable “said”-ness of
discourse and patternment form involving denotative meanings. To elaborate
denotational patternment typifies ritual communication (Silverstein 2004), but
even a conversation about one topic hangs together denotatively. The
entextualization of discourse enables its circulation.
III. Conclusion
Medical Discourse studies have contributed to broader anthropological
projects including the analysis of ideologies that empower some communicators
and stigmatize others as pre-modern (Briggs2005). Rooted in close analysis of
dyadic clinical encounters and other discourse forms, recent studies trace
interactions between globally circulating discourse forms and local traditions that
have constituted medical relationships, broadly construed. Textuality, it is
5
denotational or interactional, enables discourse to circulate, but competing
patterns meet on a non-level playing field. Further studies focusing on encounters
of textuality different forms, a sin Senegal, are called for, as are others
investigating how generalizable is the paradoxical affinity of scientific and ritual
discourse apparent in the elaborate entextualization of some Bangladeshi
psychiatrists’ discourse. Finally, given that some studies consistently uncover
patient practitioner collaboration and a degree of agency on the part of patients,
whereas so there is finding somewhat similar settings a straight forward
reproduction of power relations, both empirical and theoretical work to
illuminate this contra dictionary needed. Such studies stand to contribute to
critical medical anthropology and to help those seeking not only to describe but
changing medical fields.

REFERENCES
 1. An Overview of Medical Discourse Studies: Cultural Variation across
Genres and Registers
2. Maurizio Gotti (2015), Insights into medical discourse: diachronic and
synchronic perspectives Vol. 3(1), p. 5-24
3. Wilce, James M. (2009), Medical Discourse Department of
Anthropology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona. 4. Hammudin,
Budianto (2012), A comparative study of politeness strategies in economic
journals (Doctoral dissertation, University of Malaya). 5. Pilar Ordóñez-López
Nuria Edo-Marzá, Medical Discourse: Building Bridges between Medicine and
Society
6. H Waitzkin 1, T Britt, A critical theory of medical discourse: how
patients and health professionals deal with social problems