The Interaction of Everyday Discourse and Professional Discourse

Studies in Logic, Vol. 16, No. 6 (2023): 102–120               PII: 1674­3202(2023)­06­0102­19

Xiaoqi Zhang, Jiayi Luo, Qingci Chen

Abstract. Sleep has become a prime example of medicalization discussed by sociologists. Previous research has revealed that mass media plays a significant role in the process of sleep medicalization by translating professional medical knowledge into more accessible, popular knowledge, which involves a conversation between daily discourse and medical discourse. In order to further explore how specifically the two kinds of discourse interact with each other within a medicalization text, this paper adopts the method of Generalized Argumentation Theory to analyze a promotional text for Huawei’s sleep­monitoring smartwatches. Based on the argumentation rules extracted from the “sleep medicalization” text of Huawei, the study finds that the trajectory of alternation between everyday and medical discourse unfolds around the change of the audience’s cognitive state, and is meticulously designed to serve the divided function, which starts from daily discourse to attract the audience, then gradually increases the use of medical discourse to monger the disease, finally switches back to everyday discourse to provide solutions in daily life. This study contributes to advancing the micro research of medicalization in media discourse, and suggests more applications of Generalized Argumentation Theory in conjunction with the related disciplines to work on uncovering more nuanced rules as well as practically benefiting the public.