A Functional Analysis Of The Questioning Language Of The Therapist--A Case Study Of Psychotherapeutic Discourse

Psychotherapeutic discourse is a particular kind of discourse that takes place in a therapy room between a therapist and client around the latter's emotional problems. It takes place within a well-defined setting and framework of rules. By studying this kind of discourse, we can better understand everyday communication. Present studies of psychotherapeutic discourse mainly take the approach of either sociolinguistics or critical discourse analysis, which emphasizes the side of social practice in discourse. However, as to the semiotics through which this practice can be realized, there seems little attention or even study. This thesis attempts to take a functional approach to the analysis of the questioning language of the therapist in a psychotherapeutic case. The research method involved dividing the text of a transcript of a session of psychotherapeutic discourse into four subtexts according to the difference of topics. Each subtext was analyzed from the perspective of the three metafunctions of language: interpersonal, ideational and textual. The general characteristics of the questioning language are structure, neutrality, and specificity. This thesis also attempts to give an explanation of psychotherapeutic discourse from the point of view of the therapist's questioning.