Engagement in health representatives’ speeches of Covid-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia and the UK

IF 1.8 2区文学 Q2 COMMUNICATION

Language & Communication Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-16 DOI:10.1016/j.langcom.2026.02.001

Atekah Abaalkhail

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Health speeches delivered by governments during the Covid-19 pandemic played a critical role in fighting the virus by engaging the public and shaping their behaviour. This research study examines engagement markers in health representative speeches in two different contexts, using Hyland's model of metadiscourse (Hyland, 2005a). The data comprises two datasets: speeches of the Saudi Arabian minister of health and the speeches of the United Kingdom secretary of state for health and social care from 2020 to 2021. The findings revealed that both speakers employed engagement markers but in different ways. In the SA speeches, the audience pronouns and shared knowledge employed were directly connected to the culture of SA and the Arabic language. The UK secretary of state for health utilized inclusive pronouns and directives to encourage compliance. The findings highlight the usefulness of the metadiscourse model when applied to a language other than English, taking into account the cultural context. The study emphasizes the importance of understanding linguistic resources in health communication and the need for tailored communication strategies in health messaging.

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参与沙特阿拉伯和英国卫生代表关于Covid-19大流行的演讲

在2019冠状病毒病大流行期间，各国政府发表的卫生演讲通过吸引公众参与和塑造他们的行为，在抗击病毒方面发挥了关键作用。本研究使用Hyland的元话语模型（Hyland, 2005），考察了两种不同背景下健康代表演讲中的参与标记。这些数据包括两个数据集：沙特阿拉伯卫生部长的讲话和联合王国卫生和社会保健大臣2020年至2021年的讲话。研究结果显示，两位说话者都使用了参与标记，但方式不同。在SA演讲中，使用的听众代词和共享知识与SA文化和阿拉伯语直接相关。英国卫生大臣使用包容性代词和指令来鼓励遵守。研究结果强调，考虑到文化背景，元话语模型在应用于英语以外的语言时是有用的。该研究强调了理解卫生传播中语言资源的重要性，以及在卫生信息传递中需要量身定制的传播策略。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Language & Communication Multiple-

CiteScore

3.40

自引率

6.70%

发文量

期刊介绍： This journal is unique in that it provides a forum devoted to the interdisciplinary study of language and communication. The investigation of language and its communicational functions is treated as a concern shared in common by those working in applied linguistics, child development, cultural studies, discourse analysis, intellectual history, legal studies, language evolution, linguistic anthropology, linguistics, philosophy, the politics of language, pragmatics, psychology, rhetoric, semiotics, and sociolinguistics. The journal invites contributions which explore the implications of current research for establishing common theoretical frameworks within which findings from different areas of study may be accommodated and interrelated. By focusing attention on the many ways in which language is integrated with other forms of communicational activity and interactional behaviour, it is intended to encourage approaches to the study of language and communication which are not restricted by existing disciplinary boundaries.