Investigation Flashcards
Commercialisation and Persuasion
Website: title ‘your NHS pregnancy journey’ pronoun your: synthetic personalisation, suggests marketisation according to faircloigh’s critical discourse analysis. Noun journey: excitement so persuades. Authority of NHS is persuasive(*)
Poster: Authority of NHS is persuasive(*). Lang to state patient has responsibility: ‘help protect your baby’ verb help.
Video: Authority of NHS is persuasive:* people follow the lead of credible, knowledgable experts in compliance with Robert Cialdini’s Principle of authority
19th century: Lang to state patient has responsibility: declarative ‘the judicious interposition of medical skill may preserve both mother and child’ - reward if patient follows advice. poetic simile ‘her fruit brought ultimately to decay’ religious connotations - not seen as medical but moral (reward)
Typical 19th century themes
Wife and Mother’s Guide, written in 1841
Cox and Fritz’s work on LOHA gave context: stated purpose was to educate, entertain and enlighten
Evident in my text:
- imperative ‘the dress should be light’ discussing specifics educates, however unaffordable? Illiteracy in 19th cent = HA more excludable, opposite to 21st cent: high frequency lexis, video/web available to wide audience due to online discourse= more inclusive
- gender stereotypes: professionals referred to as ‘medical man’ noun suggests only men in positions of power vs 21st ‘GP’ gender neutral
Saving face
Following Cox and Fritz theory on importance on being a theraputic relationship between patient and professional, saving face significant(B+L politeness and face)
Website: colloquial lang bc such wide audience due to online discourse - deontic ellided lexis ‘they’ll’, post-mod adverbial ‘quickly: high frequency, non-specialist, Anglo Saxon lexis reduces force making text clear/understandable so reader doesn’t feel stigmatised against according to Strivastava’s schema. (*)but then goes on to give list of imperatives that start with deontic MV like ‘do not’ implying professional has legitimate power so just ILLUSION - assymetry between doctor and patient - knowledge.
Poster: sense of responsibility: imperative ‘help protect your baby’ emphasis on theraputic relationship
Video: (*)epistemic modal verbs, covert prestige(Labov’s research) ‘you can’ used throughout - influential power + ethos bc doesn’t impose therefore saves face and prevents feeling disempowered and having lack of agency, direct address of pronoun ‘you’: synthetic personalisation gives reader illusion they can make choice creating collaborative relationship. ‘Your GP’ also creates this illusion as suggesting relationship between patient and professional
19th century: non-professional lang= no stigma, Strivastava - euphemism, poetic ‘her fruit brought ultimately to decay’. sense of responsibility: epistemic mv ‘may’, emphasis on theraputic relationship
Credible voice to create authority and rapport
Website: interestingly discovered similar features used to 19th cent: demonstrates expert power due to being written by UK medical establishment + Latinate noun phrases made up of tech lang ‘sickle cell and thalassemia’ - medical jargon complex
Poster: deontic mvs at start of multiple imperatives to create authority, almost instrumental power(fairclough an); stresses importance of msg given in credible voice. Also has to work harder for attention in modern world and use language to encourage- persuasive function.
Video: authority by speaker dressed in scrubs, gives credibility and legitimate power through her presentation, emphasised by use of medical language throughout such as ‘spina bfida’
19th century: promotes work of medical profession, declarative: ‘sooner the medical man is present the better’ adverbials ‘sooner’ and ‘is’ have no sense of modality=authority. Latinate lexis used throughout, embodying more formal society of 19th cent: declarative ’even when imminent danger is impending, the judicious imposition of medical skill may preserve mother and child’ - polysyllabic, pre-mod adj ‘judicious’ emphasises importance of giving birth with doctor present giving expert power (F+R ideas)
Intro idea
I looked into the advice given on pregnancy when approaching the lang of professional health advice.
I chose 4 texts that include written and spoken modes, ranging from 19th century literature to 21st century websites.
I researched modern-day guidelines such as NICE to give an insight into what’s expected of contemporary HA, and compared this to 19th cent advice to see if……..
French and Raven Taxonomy
Expert + legitimate power
(Links to influential)
Fairclough’s Analysis
Influential power - make u behave in certain way. Creates ethos.
Instrumental power - no choice
Critical discourse analysis - marketization (can be done through synthetic personalisation)
Labov
Overt/covert prestige
Aitchison’s insight into technical vocabulary
Jargon (efficient communication, expertise but can exclude)
pseudo jargon(to exclude)
Brown and Levinson
Save face - politeness
Eg ‘maintaining a +ive face’
Strivastava’s schema
Stigma - -ive characteristicsa
Patient 1st lang (NICE principle: person centered communication)
Cox and Fritz’s research
Therapeutic relationship - power sharing (eg: collective pronouns)
Don’t belittle/blame (NICE principle: empower patient)
Epistemic modality - this type of language typical of this discourse bc of research by Cox and Fritz which demonstrated that what they call a therapeutic relationship is more effective when the patient feels they are working in partnership with the professional.
