Active virus and passive patients – a discourse analysis of specialised medical publications about Covid-19 in English

Abstract

This paper offers an analysis of specialised medical discourse about COVID-19 in scientific articles in English, published in Polish professional medical journals. Special attention is paid to the textual representation of phenomena such as coronavirus and other pandemic-related concepts/aspects, as well the agency of doctors and patients. Methodologically, the paper blends the principles of qualitative discourse analysis with insights obtained from a quantitative exploration of the texts with the help of SketchEngine®