Abstract
Research on the routines of doctor–patient consultations has been conducted in language and culture concordant dyads and in dyads where either doctor or patient uses a foreign language; yet there is an absence of scholarly engagement with consultations where both participants are using a foreign language. In seeking to address this gap, this article reports on four doctor–patient consultations involving the use of English as a lingua franca. The data form part of a larger empirical study of communication in an Irish diabetes clinic. Microanalysis, informed by Interactional Sociolinguistics, Pragmatics and Conversation Analysis, reveals a range of interactive challenges rooted in language and cultural assumptions which impact on the management of the consultation routines. The findings emphasize the strength of the doctors’ professional socialization and the challenges this poses for non-native-speaker patients.
Appendix
Transcription notation
- special
Italics indicate stress.
- SPECIAL
Upper case indicates loud voice.
- SPECIAL
Upper case and italics indicate loud voice and stress.
- -
Single dash indicates a halting, abrupt cutoff. Several dashes suggest that the talk has a stammering quality.
- [
Simultaneous speech or simultaneous start-up.
- ]
End of simultaneous speech.
- ° °
Soft voice.
- °° °°
Very soft voice.
- > <
Accelerated speech.
- +((Laughing voice))+
Various characterizations of talk or non-verbal behavior (comment under speech line). Plus signs indicate beginning and end of characterization.
- ((Patient laughs))
Characterization of talk or non-verbal behavior.
- = =
Equal signs indicate no interval between adjacent utterances, where the second utterance latches immediately on to the preceding one.
- (.)
Indicates a micro pause.
- (())
Double parentheses indicate transcriptionist doubt.
- (***)
Talk is incomprehensible.
- .hhh
Inhalation.
- hhh
Exhalation.
- (2.0)
Pause measured in seconds.
- ^
Higher pitch.
- ,
Continuing intonation.
- ?
Rising intonation.
- .
Falling intonation.
- :
Extended syllable.
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©2015 by De Gruyter Mouton
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- “Sorry Can You Speak It in English with Me?” Managing Routines in Lingua Franca Doctor–Patient Consultations in a Diabetes Clinic
- Individual Variation in L2 Study-Abroad Outcomes: A Case Study from Indonesian Pragmatics
- Re-codified Standards from the Perspective of Language Experts: Credentials, Practice and Attitudes amongst Translators and Interpreters of the Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian Languages
- “Lunch Keeps People Apart”: The Role of English for Social Interaction in a Multilingual Academic Workplace
- Research Note
- Does a Foreign Accent Sell? The Effect of Foreign Accents in Radio Commercials for Congruent and Non-Congruent Products
- Book Review
- Miguel Pérez-Milans: Urban schools and English language education in late modern China: A critical sociolinguistic ethnography
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- “Sorry Can You Speak It in English with Me?” Managing Routines in Lingua Franca Doctor–Patient Consultations in a Diabetes Clinic
- Individual Variation in L2 Study-Abroad Outcomes: A Case Study from Indonesian Pragmatics
- Re-codified Standards from the Perspective of Language Experts: Credentials, Practice and Attitudes amongst Translators and Interpreters of the Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian Languages
- “Lunch Keeps People Apart”: The Role of English for Social Interaction in a Multilingual Academic Workplace
- Research Note
- Does a Foreign Accent Sell? The Effect of Foreign Accents in Radio Commercials for Congruent and Non-Congruent Products
- Book Review
- Miguel Pérez-Milans: Urban schools and English language education in late modern China: A critical sociolinguistic ethnography