AStudy On Indirectness In Chinese Doctor-patient Conversations From A Pragmatic Perspective

This research is a pragmatic study of indirectness in Chinese doctor-patientconversations. Its aim is twofold. First, it investigates how doctors and patientsemploy indirectness in clinical communication, and the similarities and differences ofdoctors’ and patients’ indirectness will be discussed. Second, medical interviewsusually should be concise and objective, but indirectness is a common phenomenon indoctor-patient communications. Thus, our study will try to answer the question: whydo doctors and patients both employ indirectness in clinical interviews? In otherwords, the study attempts to explore the factors that influence indirectness andpragmatic functions of indirectness.On the basis of the above two objectives, the qualitative approach was adopted toconduct the present study.57clinical interviews were recorded and transcribeverbatim. This study analyzed and classified the174indirect speech acts (includingnon-verbal ones) identified from the transcription. It categorized doctors’ indirectnessstrategies as giving hint, repetition, strategic manoeuvring, displacing the addressee,understatement and vagueness. It also classified patients’ indirectness strategies asgiving hint, repetition, omission, bringing reference and keeping silence. In general,patients are found to be more indirect than doctors in clinical interviews.The findings of this study can explain the influencing factors and pragmaticfunctions of indirectness in medical interviews. Doctor-patient power relations areintrinsically asymmetrical as doctors monopolize professional medical knowledge andexpertise of treatment. The findings of this research also demonstrate thatasymmetrical power relation, distant social relation, size of imposition, rights andobligations contribute to doctors’ and patients’ use of indirectness. By employingindirectness in medical interviews, doctors and patients can achieve politeness to eachother, avoid face threatening acts and mitigate potential imposition and conflicts.