This study investigates doctors’ and patients’ usage of three speech functions; namely statements, questions and commands in the American medical drama series House M.D. Furthermore, the study investigates interruptions between doctors and patients. The aim of the study was to ascertain whether the claim that doctors practice power over patients can be verified. The data comprises transcripts of 16 video recorded sessions of doctors and patient interacting where the material was personally collected and analyzed. In their interactions, doctors were found to dominate in making statements, asking questions and uttering commands. In addition, it was detected that the doctors’ and patients’ way to communicate differed given the fact that doctors are trained in their roles as doctors while patients are not. However, both interactants were found to perform the different speech functions similarly. The study also revealed that doctors interrupted more as compared to patients. Furthermore, gendered interruptions were found in the data, all of which came from male participants and it was concluded that the findings could be linked to the social and cultural roles of the participants. Overall, it was concluded that there exists a power relationship between doctors and patients.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-40393 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Henrysson, Harriet |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för språk (SPR) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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