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Establishing emergent common ground

Chinese doctors’ use of metapragmatic expressions in oncological consultations

 | Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
 | Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
 | South China Business College, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
Published online: 18 August 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.24050.li
Abstract
In the framework of the socio-cognitive approach, this article investigates how Chinese doctors’ use of metapragmatic expressions (MPEs) facilitates the construction of emergent common ground (ECG) in oncological consultations. Based on extracts from our medical corpus, this paper reveals that doctors primarily employ eight types of MPEs as ECG construction builders in interactions, i.e., commentaries, message glosses, evidentials, hedges, performatives, stance displayers, signaling expressions, and rapport indicators. It is found that oncologists use them to (1) construct ECG of information for clarifying the patients’ life-threatening condition, correcting patients’ misconceptions, and justifying treatment recommendations; and (2) construct ECG of (dis)affiliation for preemptively or retrospectively reconciling their institutional needs with the addressees’ emotional needs. This article aims to shed light on our understanding of the functioning mechanism of MPEs in ECG construction for the accomplishment of communicative tasks in highly sensitive Chinese oncological consultations.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Metapragmatics and MPEs
    • 2.2Common ground in the socio-cognitive approach
    • 2.3Emergent common ground and MPEs in medical interactions
  • 3.Data and methodology
    • 3.1Data collection
    • 3.2Procedure
  • 4.Findings
    • 4.1Types of the MPEs
    • 4.2Functioning of the MPEs in ECG construction
      • 4.2.1Constructing ECG of information
        • 4.2.1.1MPEs as indicators of clarifying the patient’s life-threatening condition
        • 4.2.1.2MPEs as indicators of correcting the patient’s misconceptions
        • 4.2.1.3MPEs as indicators of justifying the treatment recommendation
      • 4.2.2Constructing ECG of (dis)affiliation
        • 4.2.2.1MPEs as indicators of establishing an affiliative stance
        • 4.2.2.2MPEs as indicators of mitigating a disaffiliative stance
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
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