This book examines the role of modal expressions in various medical genres, as well as pointing out other markers of speaker attitude. Based on new computer-readable data, and combining quantitative and qualitative methods, the book argues that the use of modal expressions reflects the institutional context of medical discourse. Modal expressions are analysed with reference to hedging, reliability, and argumentation, and it is shown that their use in different genres reflects a model of medicine leading from bio-medical hypotheses through assessment to clinical applications. The book also analyses new genres of medical writing that have developed as a response to the increasing amount of medical information. Advertisements are analysed as an example of medicalization, showing how evaluation in the texts is based on medical values.

This book presents must-know facts generally not covered in “How To” books about medical writing. Every medical writer, whether a beginner or veteran, needs answers to questions many might not even know to ask. How does your personality type influence your writing behavior, and what can you do to make writing easier for you? What should you ask before agreeing to co-author an article for publication or write a book chapter? What are some of the current issues regarding copyright and plagiarism that authors may face? What has research discovered about the quotations and references found in journal articles? What do you need to know about open access journals and predatory publishers? Dr. Taylor tells some surprising truths about medical publishing, including possible sources of peer review bias and some alarming influences on what ends up in print. He also relates little-known stories about renowned medical writers such as Sir William Osler, William Carlos Williams and Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the origins of some of medicine’s classic publications. What Every Medical Writer Needs to Know provides information vital for every health care professional who aspires to write for others to read: academicians and practicing physicians; nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants; and professional medical and scientific writers.

This volume and its companion one (English Historical Syntax and Morphology, CILT 223) offer a selection of papers from the Eleventh International Conference on English Historical Linguistics held at the University of Santiago de Compostela. From the rich programme (over 130 papers were given during the conference), the present thirteen papers were carefully selected to reflect the state of current research in the field of English historical linguistics. The areas represented in the volume are lexis and semantics, text-types, historical sociolinguistics and dialectology, and phonology. Many of the articles tackle questions of change and linguistic periodization through the use of methodological tools like corpora, linguistic atlases, thesauri and historical dictionaries. The theoretical frameworks adopted include, among others, multi-dimensional analysis, systemic-functional grammar, Communication Accommodation Theory, historical discourse analysis and Optimality Theory.

Using data from a new corpus of contemporary American medical texts, Vihl analyzes model expressions such as may, must, and possibly as they are used in medical English. She thinks that knowing how modal expressions are distributed and their pragmatic functions in the texts can help when teaching professional writing to non-native speakers, and clarify how language is institutionally situated. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This book offers original theoretical accounts and a wealth of descriptive information concerning modality in present-day English. At the same time, it provides fresh impetus to more general linguistic issues such as grammaticalization, colloquialization, or the interplay between sociolinguistic and syntactic constraints. The articles fall into four sections: (a) the semantics and pragmatics of core modal verbs; (b) the status of emerging modal items; (c) stylistic variation and change; (d) sociolinguistic variation and syntactic models. The book is of considerable value to students and teachers of English and Linguistics at undergraduate and graduate level worldwide.

This volume brings together a selection of the papers presented at the 4th International Conference on Modality in English, held in Madrid on 9–11 September 2010. The book is divided into two parts, with the first encompassing contributions focusing on the notions of modality, evidentiality and temporality, and the second those that explore modality and its connection with stance and evaluation in specific genres and discourse domains.

This book integrates insights from dialogic theory and systemic functional linguistics (SFL) to extend our understandings of engagement in medical research articles, going beyond notions of the role of verbal dialogue to encompass mathematical and visual semiotics and consider text not just as language but as multisemiosis. The volume begins by outlining the engagement framework and offering a brief overview of historical developments in medical research discourse. This discussion culminates in the introduction of the corpus used for analysis, drawing on original research articles from key medical journals to explore verbal, mathematical, and visual engagement in turn. A subsequent chapter brings these perspectives together to demonstrate intersemiotic engagement across different stages and phases of the medical research article and how such resources work together to construe and maintain the authoritative position commonly associated with medical discourse. The book looks ahead to engagement in other related disciplinary fields and future directions for work on multisemiosis and medical research discourse more generally. This book will be of particular interest to graduate students and researchers in multimodality, critical discourse analysis, applied linguistics, SFL, and science education.

Statistics on the translation market consistently identify medicine as a major thematic area as far as volume or translation is concerned. Vicent Montalt and Maria Gonzalez Davis, both experienced translator trainers at Spanish universities, explain the basics of medical translation and ways of teaching and learning how to translate medical texts. Medical Translation Step by Step provides a pedagogical approach to medical translation based on learner and learning-centred teaching tasks, revolving around interaction: pair and group work to carry out the tasks and exercises to practice the points covered. These include work on declarative and operative knowledge of both translation and medical texts and favour an approach that takes into account both the process and product of translations. Starting from a broad communication framework, the book follows a top-down approach to medical translation: communication → genres → texts → terms and other units of specialized knowledge. It is positively focused in that it does not insist on error analysis, but rather on ways of writing good translations and empowering both students and teachers. The text can be used as a course book for students in face-to-face learning, but also in distance and mixed learning situations. It will also be useful for teachers as a resource book, or a core book to be complemented with other materials.

The focus of this volume is on medical discourse, a domain of language which deserves closer scrutiny by academics as well as practitioners, due to its increasing relevance and pervasiveness in modern society. Despite the wealth of publications dealing with specialized or academic discourse and its rhetoric, few of these are devoted specifically to medical discourse. This book seeks to redress the balance by bringing together a number of studies that bear witness to the widespread interest in medical texts shown by linguists and professional communities around the world. The volume is divided into two main parts: the first targets medical discourse in its spoken dimension, while the second contains various analyses of written texts. The theoretical perspectives and individual case studies presented here reflect the wide range of methodological approaches and theoretical issues that characterise current research in the field.

Modals and related phenomena are without doubt one of the most complicated issues in the grammar of language. This study provides a reappraisal of the modals in Shakespeare's language from the pragmatic viewpoint, both micropragmatic and macropragmatic. The material selected for analysis are modals SHALL, SHOULD, WILL, WOULD, and their contracted forms. Micropragmatic aspects such as speech acts seem relatively easily accessible to historical researchers; however, this study moves further into the macropragmatic dimensions of language use than the earlier ones and covers politeness, dialogue, and discourse analysis.