Perceptions of and attitudes toward elastic language in online health communication in Chinese

• Published in: Lingua Vol. 233; p. 102750
• Main Authors: Tseng, Ming-Yu, Zhang, Grace
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.01.2020; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Chinese; Chinese languages; College students; Computer mediated communication; Elastic language; Elasticity; Framing; Healthcare communication; Medical personnel; Perceptions; Pragmatics; Questionnaires; Respondents; Taiwanese; Vague language; Healthcare communication; Elasticity; Elastic language; Chinese; Vague language; Framing
• ISSN: 0024-3841; 1872-6135
• DOI: 10.1016/j.lingua.2019.102750

•Analyzes how elastic language (EL) in online health information is perceived.•Identifies six frames explaining participants’ attitudes toward Chinese EL.•Reveals a hierarchical orderliness of frames that explains respondents’ attitudes toward EL and non-EL.•Adds an evaluative dimension to pragmatic inquiries of EL. Informed by integrative pragmatics, elasticity theory and framing theory, this study attempts to understand how Chinese elastic language (EL) in the online health context is perceived. Drawing on data from online health information and based on the results of questionnaires distributed to 516 Taiwanese university students, this study investigates the perceptions of EL in online health information for the public. The questionnaire, containing six short excerpts in Chinese, is designed to gain the respondents’ perceptions of EL vis-à-vis non-EL. Analyzing respondents’ explanations of their preferences for EL or non-EL, we identified six frames that motivated the explanations. Each of the frames has two tendencies/ends: positive-negative communication effects; trust-skepticism; lay-professional; folk-idiosyncratic; voluntary-involuntary action; and difference-indifference. The respondents’ explanations were coded using the identified frames. The results show a hierarchical orderliness of frames that explains respondents’ attitudes toward EL and non-EL: communication, folk-idiosyncratic, trust-skepticism, followed by the action frame. This project aims to enhance a better understanding between health professionals’ use of EL and the public's perceptions of such language and to provide useful recommendations regarding the use of EL in online health communication.