The Bosnian Discourse Marker PA in Answer Sequences to WH-Questions in Doctor-Patient Interaction: A Conversation Analysis Perspective

The study examines the function of the turn-initial Bosnian discourse marker PA in patients’ responses to doctors’ wh-questions during the history-taking phase. In addition to being one of the least researched discourse markers in Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian, PA has primarly been analyzed through...

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Main Author: Minka Džanko
Format: Article
Language:Bosnian
Published: University of Tuzla, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences 2025-06-01
Series:Društvene i Humanističke Studije
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dhs.ff.untz.ba/index.php/home/article/view/17071
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author Minka Džanko
author_facet Minka Džanko
author_sort Minka Džanko
collection DOAJ
description The study examines the function of the turn-initial Bosnian discourse marker PA in patients’ responses to doctors’ wh-questions during the history-taking phase. In addition to being one of the least researched discourse markers in Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian, PA has primarly been analyzed through written sources. This paper, however, draws on naturally occurring data, opening new possibilities for analyzing its use accross different sequential environments within the institutional setting of medical interactions. Using the framework of Conversation Analysis, and particulary the concepts of progressivity and type-conformity (Schegloff 2007), I demonstrate that PA facilitates a subjective yet relevant response to wh-questions about patients’ symptoms. It is not only reactive, but also plays a role in structuring sequences and exhibits a forward-looking function. Moreover, its placement before type-conforming answers signals an interactional phenomenon related to patients’ epistemic self-positioning of patients during the history-taking phase. This analysis is based on a corpus consisting of 20 audio-recorded conversations between Bosnian hospital physicians and their patients.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2490-3604
2490-3647
language Bosnian
publishDate 2025-06-01
publisher University of Tuzla, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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series Društvene i Humanističke Studije
spelling doaj-art-51b593615c2e4f3c8ac0ad8aafc445052025-08-20T03:25:08ZbosUniversity of Tuzla, Faculty of Humanities and Social SciencesDruštvene i Humanističke Studije2490-36042490-36472025-06-01101(27)8911010.51558/2490-3647.2025.10.1.891027The Bosnian Discourse Marker PA in Answer Sequences to WH-Questions in Doctor-Patient Interaction: A Conversation Analysis PerspectiveMinka Džanko0University of Sarajevo Faculty of PhilosophyThe study examines the function of the turn-initial Bosnian discourse marker PA in patients’ responses to doctors’ wh-questions during the history-taking phase. In addition to being one of the least researched discourse markers in Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian, PA has primarly been analyzed through written sources. This paper, however, draws on naturally occurring data, opening new possibilities for analyzing its use accross different sequential environments within the institutional setting of medical interactions. Using the framework of Conversation Analysis, and particulary the concepts of progressivity and type-conformity (Schegloff 2007), I demonstrate that PA facilitates a subjective yet relevant response to wh-questions about patients’ symptoms. It is not only reactive, but also plays a role in structuring sequences and exhibits a forward-looking function. Moreover, its placement before type-conforming answers signals an interactional phenomenon related to patients’ epistemic self-positioning of patients during the history-taking phase. This analysis is based on a corpus consisting of 20 audio-recorded conversations between Bosnian hospital physicians and their patients.http://dhs.ff.untz.ba/index.php/home/article/view/17071discourse markerconversation analysisprogressivityepistemic ositioningbosnian language
spellingShingle Minka Džanko
The Bosnian Discourse Marker PA in Answer Sequences to WH-Questions in Doctor-Patient Interaction: A Conversation Analysis Perspective
Društvene i Humanističke Studije
discourse marker
conversation analysis
progressivity
epistemic ositioning
bosnian language
title The Bosnian Discourse Marker PA in Answer Sequences to WH-Questions in Doctor-Patient Interaction: A Conversation Analysis Perspective
title_full The Bosnian Discourse Marker PA in Answer Sequences to WH-Questions in Doctor-Patient Interaction: A Conversation Analysis Perspective
title_fullStr The Bosnian Discourse Marker PA in Answer Sequences to WH-Questions in Doctor-Patient Interaction: A Conversation Analysis Perspective
title_full_unstemmed The Bosnian Discourse Marker PA in Answer Sequences to WH-Questions in Doctor-Patient Interaction: A Conversation Analysis Perspective
title_short The Bosnian Discourse Marker PA in Answer Sequences to WH-Questions in Doctor-Patient Interaction: A Conversation Analysis Perspective
title_sort bosnian discourse marker pa in answer sequences to wh questions in doctor patient interaction a conversation analysis perspective
topic discourse marker
conversation analysis
progressivity
epistemic ositioning
bosnian language
url http://dhs.ff.untz.ba/index.php/home/article/view/17071
work_keys_str_mv AT minkadzanko thebosniandiscoursemarkerpainanswersequencestowhquestionsindoctorpatientinteractionaconversationanalysisperspective
AT minkadzanko bosniandiscoursemarkerpainanswersequencestowhquestionsindoctorpatientinteractionaconversationanalysisperspective