Discourse patterns of affective stance in paediatric online consultative encounters

The paediatric online consultative forum, where putative patients interact with physicians, has become a lifesaver for many, especially during the COVID-19 lockdown era in Nigeria. Examining the affective stance expressed by mothers in this asynchronous discourse from the linguistic perspective adds...

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Main Authors: Opeyemi Olajimbiti Ezekiel, Ayoola Samuel Olayiwola
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: De Gruyter 2025-03-01
Series:Language and Semiotic Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1515/lass-2024-0054
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author Opeyemi Olajimbiti Ezekiel
Ayoola Samuel Olayiwola
author_facet Opeyemi Olajimbiti Ezekiel
Ayoola Samuel Olayiwola
author_sort Opeyemi Olajimbiti Ezekiel
collection DOAJ
description The paediatric online consultative forum, where putative patients interact with physicians, has become a lifesaver for many, especially during the COVID-19 lockdown era in Nigeria. Examining the affective stance expressed by mothers in this asynchronous discourse from the linguistic perspective adds to the few existing studies on telemedicine and reveals the plight of mothers and their children in Nigeria. This study examines the discourse patterns of affective stance and its linguistic markers in online consultative encounters. Using the purposive random sampling method, 80 posts on the Facebook account “Ask the Paediatricians” between May and June 2020 and analysed using stance theory. Findings show that mothers express affectivity as interrogative, attention and hypothetical markers to project their concerns, worries, and curiosity about their children’s health status, e.g., breastfeeding, immunization, stools abnormalities, nutrition, fever, refluxing babies among others. Self-mentions and attitude markers are the two linguistic markers predominantly deployed in expressing affective stance. While the instances of self-mentions index affective representation, attitude markers, on the other hand, foreground affective attitude toward the propositions expressed. The above implies the level of emotional conditions of motherhood and sociocultural experiences of Nigerian women in the context of telemedicine encounters in child health studies.
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spelling doaj-art-c06bf9b2c3e543d7b7dc5680771796312025-08-20T03:27:35ZengDe GruyterLanguage and Semiotic Studies2096-031X2751-71602025-03-0111218720610.1515/lass-2024-0054Discourse patterns of affective stance in paediatric online consultative encountersOpeyemi Olajimbiti Ezekiel0Ayoola Samuel Olayiwola1Federal University, Lokoja, Kogi, NigeriaLadoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, NigeriaThe paediatric online consultative forum, where putative patients interact with physicians, has become a lifesaver for many, especially during the COVID-19 lockdown era in Nigeria. Examining the affective stance expressed by mothers in this asynchronous discourse from the linguistic perspective adds to the few existing studies on telemedicine and reveals the plight of mothers and their children in Nigeria. This study examines the discourse patterns of affective stance and its linguistic markers in online consultative encounters. Using the purposive random sampling method, 80 posts on the Facebook account “Ask the Paediatricians” between May and June 2020 and analysed using stance theory. Findings show that mothers express affectivity as interrogative, attention and hypothetical markers to project their concerns, worries, and curiosity about their children’s health status, e.g., breastfeeding, immunization, stools abnormalities, nutrition, fever, refluxing babies among others. Self-mentions and attitude markers are the two linguistic markers predominantly deployed in expressing affective stance. While the instances of self-mentions index affective representation, attitude markers, on the other hand, foreground affective attitude toward the propositions expressed. The above implies the level of emotional conditions of motherhood and sociocultural experiences of Nigerian women in the context of telemedicine encounters in child health studies.https://doi.org/10.1515/lass-2024-0054online encounterschild healthaffective stancenigerian motherslinguistic markers
spellingShingle Opeyemi Olajimbiti Ezekiel
Ayoola Samuel Olayiwola
Discourse patterns of affective stance in paediatric online consultative encounters
Language and Semiotic Studies
online encounters
child health
affective stance
nigerian mothers
linguistic markers
title Discourse patterns of affective stance in paediatric online consultative encounters
title_full Discourse patterns of affective stance in paediatric online consultative encounters
title_fullStr Discourse patterns of affective stance in paediatric online consultative encounters
title_full_unstemmed Discourse patterns of affective stance in paediatric online consultative encounters
title_short Discourse patterns of affective stance in paediatric online consultative encounters
title_sort discourse patterns of affective stance in paediatric online consultative encounters
topic online encounters
child health
affective stance
nigerian mothers
linguistic markers
url https://doi.org/10.1515/lass-2024-0054
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