A Study Of Expectation-deviating Discourse In Chinese Doctor-patient Conversation From The Perspective Of The Goal-driven Principle

"Expectation" can be comprehended as what a particular agent expects or hopes a specific speech act or event to be,and the key to telling "expectation convergence"and "expectation deviation" depends on whether the actual is consistent with the agent’s expectation.The utterance showing expectation deviation is thereby defined as "expectation-deviating discourse".Expectation-deviating discourse is frequently in real communication and takes on great significance in informational as well as pragmatic studies;therefore,its corresponding research is an important approach to exploring communicative attitude,discourse subjectivity and interpersonal relationship reflected in communication.In the process of the analysis over the real data of doctor-patient conversation in outpatient service collected from several departments of some general hospitals in Wuhan,it is found that expectation-deviating discourse considerably and frequently exists in Chinese doctor-patient conversation,presenting dynamic change together with interactivity and thereby forming a characteristic of the conversation.There have been,nonetheless,few studies probing into expectation-deviating discourse in this kind of conversation so far:Meanwhile,doctor-patient conversation,as a typical example of institutional discourse,obviously is goal-oriented since the interlocutors have to participate in the communication under the driving force of their goals,which offers a feasible approach to examining and applying the Goal-driven Principle in pragmatics.Both descriptive and interpretative methods are used to analyze the qualitative data transcribed from the audio recordings of the doctor-patient conversation mentioned above in order to work out the classifications of its expectation-deviating discourse,explore the specific data-based correlations between expectation and goal,and construct the analytical models concerning this kind of discourse."Expectation-deviating marker" and "expectation-deviating sentence structure"respectively refer to the grammatical devices(including tokens and discourse markers)and sentence structures that directly mark expectation deviation in speech acts;expectation-deviating discourse in Chinese doctor-patient conversation thereby can be divided into the discourse in an explicit form and that in an implicit form according to whether there are expectation-deviating markers or sentence structures in it.And it can also be categorized into three types according to the objects that the expectation deviation is aimed at:the discourse deviating from the expectation of doctors,of patients and simultaneously of the two parties.Each form and type are driven or motivated by the corresponding interlocutor’s communicative goal,demonstrating that goal is the actual rationale of the classifications.As for the specific correlations between expectation and goal in Chinese doctor-patient conversation,this research supports that they are two essentially different concepts since the efforts are made by rational people in manifestation,pursuit and realization of goals in all speech acts while the results of expectation cannot be intentionally pursued and by no means indicate whether a goal is realized or not;both expectation convergence and deviation may be connected with goal realization or defeat.Besides,expectation convergence and deviation are actually the outcomes of goal implementation and pursuit,which means expectation along with its two outcomes is essentially dominated and determined by goals.The discussions over the specific correlations between expectation and goal in Chinese doctor-patient conversation play a transitional role in this study,for they reveal the essential basis of the previous classifications and simultaneously provide a concrete interpretive prerequisite for the following analytical models.The analytical models of the expectation-deviating discourse in Chinese doctor-patient conversation,in this study,are generally constructed on system models of goal and expectation deviation,dynamic models concerning goal,context and expectation deviation as well as a four-level model of expectation-deviating discourse.Expectation is also a systematic network as goal systems and the expectation deviation system,instead of being independent,has to be analyzed based on the expectation system since the exploration of expectation deviation relies on the agent’s primary expectation.The system of expectation deviation based on its corresponding expectation system is produced and dominated by a particular goal system due to the dominance of goal.Furthermore,the dynamics of expectation and its deviation,both of which simultaneously constitute an important section of a context,are determined by dynamics of goal and context;meanwhile,the retroactions to the context are also brought by expectation and its deviation so that the dynamic change in the context is inversely intensified.Finally,a four-level model of expectation-deviating discourse in Chinese doctor-patient conversation is constructed on the four levels of goal-oriented communication.Expectation deviation is actually produced with the production of the agents’ communicative goals on the basic level,and it takes on comprehensibility in literal meaning after being manifested with the goals expressed and comprehended.On the implementing-interpreting level of goals,the interaction of expectation or its deviation is actually driven by goal interaction between doctors and patients,and expectation deviation in goal interaction is closely associated with the degree of explicitness,significance and conventionalization of goals.Expectation-deviating discourse is also likely to have an impact on the communication results when it comes to the pursuing-responding level in this kind of conversation.Expectation-deviating discourse in Chinese doctor-patient conversation,generally,may either promote or block the communication,which is usually employed to correct the interlocutors’ misconceptions or express one’s subjective views or feelings and simultaneously serves the communicative goals.Both systematic macro-investigation and specific micro-analysis are involved in this thesis that uses expectation-deviating discourse in Chinese doctor-patient conversation as the study object supported by the Goal-driven Principle for the purpose of respectively extending the research scopes of expectation-deviating.discourse and Chinese doctor-patient conversation,examining the theoretical value as well as the feasibility of GP,and attempting to take on practical significance because of the sensitivity in current doctor-patient relationship of China,which ultimately offers some pragmatic suggestions for improving the relationship between the two parties and their communicative efficiency to some extent.