Chapter 7. Don’t moan, it won’t make you feel better, granny! – Addressing older patients

Abstract

The focus of research in this comparative study lies on nominal address practices between doctors and older patients in German and Bosnian medical encounters. In this study we consider and compare the forms of address as well as identify their pragmatic differences by contrasting the Bosnian and German data. My research draws on interactional data consisting of 15 recorded conversations between Bosnian and German doctors and their elderly patients (65 and older). The data were examined and compared by using Conversation Analysis and Ethnographic Discourse Analysis. Our overall analysis shows a variety of differences between the data sets. The German data are marked by the exclusive use of the formal V form and the nominal form “Mrs./Mr. + surname” to address male and female patients. The Bosnian data are characterised by an overall high use of the kinship term “granny” to address the elderly female patients, as well as by a frequent use of the first name. Certain address practices of the doctors go beyond expressing politeness and/or friendliness, by contributing to face threatening actions such as criticism of the patients. The frequency and variety of such pragmatic routines differ and relate to socio-cultural norms of the institutional encounters in Bosnian and German society.