A politeness-theoretic approach to mitigated disagreements in online radio medical consultations

Abstract In medical settings, disagreement between doctors and patients frequently occurs, and it is considered a potential trigger to elicit conflicts. Hence, the point of departure for this study is the widely accepted view that these kinds of “face-threatening” and “dispreferred” acts need to be modified. Thus, this study sheds light on analyzing doctor-patient’s discourse in 25 episodes of online radio medical consultation, reporting on Chinese doctors’ mitigated disagreement forms and offering a novel perspective on how Chinese doctors use these mitigated disagreements to turn divergent ideas into alignment with patients in online radio medical consultation. The findings in this study provide preliminary empirical support for the idea that mitigated disagreements can be seen as a sign of relational work and may not destroy but rather strengthen doctor-patient’s relations.