Applying Linguistics in Illness and Healthcare Contexts

Zsófia Demjén is Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at the Centre for Applied Linguistics, University College London, UK.

• List of FiguresList of TablesNotes on ContributorsAcknowledgementsIntroduction, Zsófia Demjén Part I: The experience of illness1. “One gives bad compliments about me, and the other one is telling me to do things” – (Im)Politeness and power in reported interactions between voice-hearers and their voices, Zsófia Demjén, Agnes Marszalek, Elena Semino and Filippo Varese2. Corpus linguistics in illness and healthcare contexts: a case study of diabulimia support groups, Gavin Brookes3. Using a comparative corpus-assisted approach to study health and illness discourses across domains: the case of postnatal depression (PND) in lay, medical and media texts, Karen Kinloch and Sylvia Jaworska4. Applying corpus linguistics to a diagnostic tool for pain, Elena Semino, Andrew Hardie and Joanna ZakrzewskaPart II: Relating to each other5. Improving HIV/AIDS consultations in Malawi: how interactional sociolinguistics can contribute, Rachel Chimbwete-Phiri and Stephanie Schnurr6. Empathy displays in Dutch chat counselling: showcasing a microanalysis of online data, Wyke Stommel and Joyce Lamerichs7. The functions of narrative passages in three written online health contexts, Franziska Thurnherr, Marie-Thérèse Rudolf von Rohr and Miriam A. LocherPart III: Illness in the mass media8. Fighting obesity, sustaining stigma: How can critical metaphor analysis help uncover subtle stigma in media discourse on obesity, Dimitrinka Atanasova and Nelya Koteyko9. A media brew of implied, hidden and unknown risk claims: cognitive discourse analysis of public health communication, Chris Tang and Gabriella RundbladPart IV: Professional practices and concerns10. Effective triaging in general practice receptions: a conversation analytic study, Rein Sikveland and Elizabeth Stokoe11. A sociolinguistic investigation of professional mobility and multicultural healthcare communication, Olga Zayts and Mariana Lazzaro-Salazar12. Applying corpus-based discourse analysis to enhance understanding of barriers to palliative and end of life care provision in General Practice, Joelle Loew, Sarah Mitchell, Katharine Weetman, Catherine Millington-Sanders and Jeremy Dale13. A moment outside time: a critical discourse analytic perspective on dominant constructions of suicide, Dariusz Galasinski and Justyna ZiólkowskaEpilogue, Jonathon TomlinsonIndex

A potent reminder of the practical applicability of linguistics to addressing real life problems in healthcare and health education. The volume is striking in the breadth of methods represented and in its international scope, reporting on work conducted in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and the USA. Most impressive, however, is that it speaks directly to healthcare professionals and health educators in language that reaches across disciplinary boundaries. It truly demonstrates how the role of Applied Linguistics has developed and matured since the early studies of doctor-patient communication nearly four decades ago.