Calibrating sensitive actions in palliative care consultations
Physicians’ use of routinized wenn ich ehrlich bin/wenn
man ehrlich ist-constructions
This article explores physicians’ uses of “honestly” wenn (‘if’)-clauses in
German palliative care interactions. In “stretching
the old linguistics to meet the challenge of talk-in-interaction” (Schegloff
1996: 114), the study aims to further our understanding of how routinized communicative practices are
mobilized in response to local interactional needs within institutional interaction. Using methods and concepts of Interactional Linguistics, Social Constructivism, and Linguistic
Anthropology, I will illustrate how doctors in German
palliative consultations reconfigure traditional conditional wenn (‘if’)-clauses to adjust to local needs. With its focus on the
interactional practices participants use in palliative consultations as well as the way in which these practices both
conform to and (re)construct the institutional order, the analysis contributes to “New Perspectives in Interactional
Linguistic Research” by heightening awareness of the communicative construction of social reality within institutional
(i.e., palliative) settings. Furthermore, in applying Interactional Linguistics to palliative interactions, this paper not only aims to shed light on the
reflexive relationship between (routinized) interactional practices and the “social field” (Hanks 2007) of palliative communication, but it also contributes insights into the field of
applied Interactional Linguistics.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Data and focus of the empirical analysis
- 3.“Honestly” wenn-constructions in palliative care interactions
- 3.1Wenn ich ehrlich bin ‘if I am honest’-constructions
- 3.1.1Pre-positioned wenn ich ehrlich bin ‘if I am
honest‘-constructions
- 3.1.2Post-positioned wenn ich ehrlich bin ‘if I am
honest’-constructions
- 3.2Wenn man ehrlich ist ‘if one is honest’-constructions
- 4.Conclusion
-
Acknowledgements
-
Notes
-
References
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