The Use of Maxims for Cooperation in Chinese Medical Interviews

Abstract

The discourse in doctor-patient interviews in China was analyzed to assess the way Leech's (1983) 4 maxims for cooperation play out in the medical context. Some violations of the maxim of quantity were found. Violations of the maxim of quality were common for both doctors and patients. The maxim of relation and the maxim of manner were more closely followed. There was no evidence, however, that the violation of these maxims undermined the cooperativeness of doctor and patient. The medical interview may provide a context in which Leech's maxims hold more in the general than in the particular.