Constructing Language Normativity Through the Animation of Stance in Spanish-Language Medical Consultations

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the construction of language normativity as medical providers interact with patients and animate stance within Spanish-language medical consultations. The context of the study is a clinic in which providers use Spanish to communicate with monolingual Spanish-speaking patients. This clinic is in the United States, an English-speaking macro-societal context. Findings indicate that providers who are second-language users of Spanish animate stance and interact with patients in ways such that English is constructed as normative and Spanish as marked. Implications include the need to consider how the construction of language normativity within medical consultations affects health outcomes.