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Over the last twenty years, medical discourse has attracted a great deal of scholarly research. Language in healthcare settings has been more generally analysed through genres – whether in terms of expert-to-expert or expert-to-lay communication – whereas more specific aspects include the study of discourse strategies behind the expression of empathy, problems of media representation of healthcare issues, and the role played by cultural variables in healthcare contexts. While substantial research exists on medical discourse and the transmission of medical knowledge, a number of works still tend to focus on accuracy and comprehensiveness of content rather than on the linguistic analysis of communication strategies. In light of that, the aim of this work is to substantiate the findings in the literature published so far by bringing a genuinely discourse-based perspective to bear on them. To achieve this goal, a corpus investigation was carried out of web-based resources employed by a leading nationwide organisation to communicate to the public about cancer. The study focuses on the discourse functions of frequently occurring phraseology, in the attempt to address the following questions: (a) Are there any recurrent discourse patterns that tend to be reiterated across the sections of informative healthcare materials? (b) How are patients’ needs addressed through the language of such materials? (c) More generally, how can findings be interpreted with a view to both their relevance to the context under analysis and their possible application in the language-learning classroom?

“It is natural for you to be afraid…”: On the discourse of web-based communication with patients