Applying Linguistics in Illness and Healthcare Contexts

All aspects of illness and healthcare are mediated by language: experiences of illness, death and healthcare provision are talked and written about (face-to-face or online), while medical consultations, research interviews, public health communications and even some diagnostic instruments are all inherently linguistic in nature. How we talk to, about and for each other in such a sensitive context has consequences for our relationships, our sense of self, how we understand and reason about our health, as well as for the quality care we receive. Yet, linguistic analysis has been conspicuously absent from the mainstream of medical education, health communication training and even the medical or health humanities.