Doctor’s Pragmatic Identity Construction Based On Three Chinese Medical Documentaries

Doctor-patient communication has always been the focus of medical humanities and linguistics research.With the promulgation of the “Healthy China 2030” blueprint,how to build a harmonious doctor-patient relationship through doctor-patient communication has become an issue of concern to medical workers and even the whole society.As an available communication resource,identity construction in doctor-patient communication has gradually attracted the attention of pragmatics.Based on this,this study collects 176 conversations from three Chinese medical documentaries,and constructs an analytical framework by combining Szasz-Hollender’s doctor-patient communication mode with pragmatic identity theory,and puts forward the following research questions: 1)What pragmatic identities do doctors possess in doctor-patient communication? 2)What pragmatic strategies are adopted to construct these identities? 3)What contexts and reasons may lead up to doctors’ failure in constructing identities? What complementary strategy could they employ?It is found that: 1)Doctor’s pragmatic identities are default identity and deviational identity,which are constructed through different communication modes.In default identity,doctors construct medical authority identity in active-passive mode,construct medical leader identity in guidance-cooperation mode,and construct medical adviser identity in mutual participation mode.In deviational identity,doctors construct no deviational identity in active-passive mode,but construct elder identity in guidance-cooperation mode,and compeer identity in mutual cooperation mode.2)With regard to identity construction strategy,in active-passive mode and guidance-cooperation mode,doctors often construct medical authority and medical leader identity by direct notification,negating others and de-identification;In the mode of mutual participation,adviser identity is mainly constructed by giving options and emphasizing risks.3)There are different contexts for the failure of default identity construction,mainly due to three different types of patients: experienced,inexperienced,and emotionally unstable ones.The reasons for the failure are: a)absent response,which is manifested by doctors ignoring the patient’s self-report or not responding;b)excessive evaluation,which is manifested in the lack of focus in response;c)monotonous discourse,which is embodied in that doctors stick to default identity,thus identity construction fails to adapt to the change of context.What’s more,deviational identity is a complementary strategy when the construction of default identity fails.This study combines doctor-patient communication mode with pragmatic identity theory,highlights the importance of identity as a resource in doctor-patient communication,and provides practical and effective communication strategies for doctors.