INSTITUTIONAL MEDICAL DISCOURSE: INTONATION MEANS

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the study of depicting doctor-speaker oral portrait. The speech of a doctor is referred to as a medical discourse realized in a situation of examining the patient. Medical discourse is singled out as a type of institutional discourse where doctor’s interaction in the process of doctor-patient communication is implied and signified as one fulfilling the goal of help and pain-relief. This type of discourse is classified as a discrete medical discourse implying an interruption in the process of communication caused by specific situations of cooperation with the patient. The structure of communication is considered to consist of two parts including the definition of the problem, its symptoms and the reason of its nascency, and an attempt to recommend the best solution. Intonation stands out as a significant means of changing the context based on a wide variability of components of intonation that make it possible to single out the key features of the medical vocabulary and grammatical structure of oral medical discourse. The analysis of the research data has brought to the inference two parts of the doctor-patient dialogue: examination-questionary of a patient and general conclusion. The examination-questionary part is characterized with the use of various types of interrogative constructions, namely general questions that create the main link of doctor-patient communication; in its turn, the general conclusion of the survey is formed out of statements mostly complex sentences. The article is based upon the auditory analysis during which basic intonation parameters have been thoroughly investigated. The medical discourse is fulfilled in a friendly situation, the intention of which is to provide assistance; the voice of the speaker-doctor is quiet; the tempo is not quick; the tone range is medium; the scale is mostly Descending Stepping one although the part of survey can be realized with the High scale or Broken scales as well. The choice of the speaker on the part of the Descending scale is intended to keep the reserved official style of an institutional discourse each word of which should be taken as utmost importance and respect.