The Pragmatics of Medical Language
Abstract
The brief sketch of the problematic character of the traditional semantic conception
of meaning demonstrated that meaning cannot be separated from the
role the users of a language play in their communication with one another.
One of the features of this role is the control of the language use and verbal
behavior of individuals by the community. It is thus the community that determines
and judges what words and sentences ‘mean’. This is just indicative
of the pragmatic dimension of language. Consequently, what medical terms
and sentences ‘mean’, and what someone ‘means’ by using a particular medical
term or sentence, also depends on pragmatic contexts and circumstances.
To understand the importance and practical consequences of this pragmatic
perspective, we will now consider the following three central aspects:
3.1 The So-Called Language Games,
3.2 Assertion, Acceptance, and Rejection,
3.3 Speech Acts in Medicine,
3.4 The Pragmatic Impact of Medical Language,
3.5 The Communal Origin of Medical Language.