Speech Acts in Chinese Doctor-Patient Arguments
Studies in Logic, Vol. 14, No. 6 (2021): 127–140 PII: 16743202(2021)06012714
Yanjin Chen
Abstract.
Different from the doctorpatient arguments in western society, the disagreements between doctors and patients in China partly come from the special types of speech acts in doctorpatient arguments. Firstly, this paper focuses on the large number of metaphorical words contained in Theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Secondly, the speech acts frequently used by Chinese patients are discussed, including indirect speech acts and metaphorizing speech acts. Thirdly, the fact that TCM doctors with professional medical knowledge may also use metaphorizing speech acts is illustrated, and the four main forms are clarified consequently. Finally, the differences between metaphorizing speech act and indirect speech act in the context of Chinese doctorpatient communication are pointed out.