Medizinische Lehrtexte: eine diachronische Perspektive
The highly interdisciplinary LSP research field subsumes structural, pragmatic and cognitive perspectives on (specialised) language use (e.g. the handbook edited by Hoffmann/ Kalverkämper/ Wiegand 1998, 1999 as well as the introduction by Roelcke 2010). The pragmatic oriented characterisations of LSP genres have mostly focused on the so called internal and external communication processes (Gläser 1990), i.e. knowledge transfers either from experts to experts or from experts to laymen (popularisation). The various textual instances of professional didactic communication have been, on the contrary, relatively overlooked. Adopting a functional approach and assuming that the diachronic perspective would shed light on the conventionalisation process underlying genre formation (and moving from the genre definition proposed by Brinker /Cölfen / Pappert 2014), this work specifically addresses this particular level of LSP communication, which is essential to the continuity of specialised fields themselves. The dissertation centres, in fact, on a diachronic analysis of the German medical textbook based on a corpus collecting texts originally written in German from the 13th to the 18th century: ▪Ortolf von Baierland (13th century): Das Arzneibuch ▪Hans von Gersdorff (1517), Feldtbuoch der Wundarzney ▪Paracelsus (1537), Die große Wundarznei ▪Johann Theodor Eller (1767), Ausübende Arzneywissenschaft oder praktische Anweisung zu der gründlichen Erkenntniß und Cur aller innerlichen Krankheiten ▪Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland (1800), System der practischen Heilkunde. Ein Handbuch für academische Vorlesungen und für den practischen Gebrauch. Moving from the LSP research areas mentioned above and illustrated in the first part of this study, following questions have been investigated: • Textual organisation, i.e. how themes are logically developed using the categories introduced by Brinker /Cölfen / Pappert (2014), who determine four general thematic development patterns (Themenentfaltung): description, explanation, argumentation and narration. They assume that textual structure is characterised by the (functionally determined) dominance of one of those patterns. • Verbal and non-verbal didactic supports, such as metaphors and images. With respect to this area, conceptual metaphors have also been analysed using the Metaphor Identification Procedure (Pragglejaz Group 2007): Although some of them are not strictly didactic, they nevertheless give interesting insights into the medical discourse in its historical development, as conceptual metaphors play(ed) a crucial role in medical communication (e.g. Bauer 2006; Fleishmann 2001; Goschler 2008; Schachtner 1990, 2001; Schiefer 2005). • LSP features with particular attention to the use and explanation of terminology, i.e. the striving for exactness (Baumann 1998b), thereby also including the problem of multilingualism in scientific communication (specifically, the relationship between German and Latin). • Intertextual references: How they are formally specified in the text and how they can be functionally interpreted, i.e. how they contribute to the realisation of the general function of the text. The results presented in the second part lead to the definition of a genre class subsuming common features shared by the texts. The data collected can also be integrated in further studies, both diachronically and synchronically oriented. Moreover, they can serve as starting point for wider analysis focussing on specific research areas among those selected, in particular comparing different languages and discursive fields (for example medicine and politics).