Premium
Is That a Rhetorical Question? Ambiguity and Power in Medical Discourse
Author(s) -
AinsworthVaughn Nancy
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of linguistic anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.463
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1548-1395
pISSN - 1055-1360
DOI - 10.1525/jlin.1994.4.2.194
Subject(s) - rhetorical question , ambiguity , competence (human resources) , power (physics) , rhetorical device , rhetoric , face (sociological concept) , sociology , psychology , social psychology , aesthetics , linguistics , philosophy , social science , physics , quantum mechanics
Rhetorical questions in medical encounters functioned to mitigate doctors' use of structural power, such as their necessary abrogation of patients' right to control over the viewing and touching of their bodies. Patients, lacking structural power, used functionally ambiguous rhetorical questions to mitigate their true questions and other face‐threatening acts, such as sexual overtures or challenging the physician's competence.