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Part of
A Pragmatic Agenda for Healthcare: Fostering inclusion and active participation through shared understanding
Edited by Sarah Bigi and Maria Grazia Rossi
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 338] 2023
► pp. 252–262

Chapter 10
Establishing common ground to achieve therapeutic goals

| Monash University

Healthcare professionals can normally assume that their patients are rational people and approach verbal interaction with the patient as they would with any fellow human being. Common ground is context shared between S (speaker, writer, signer) and H (audience) where S utters U (utterance), evoking context C1 (the ‘world and time spoken of’) so as to bring about in C3 (the ‘situation of interpretation’ from H’s point of view) H’s understanding U in terms of the relevant beliefs that S holds or purports to hold uttering U, i.e. speaking of C1 in C2 (the ‘world and time spoken in’ or situation of utterance from S’s point of view).

Keywords: common ground, shared understanding, contextualization, common knowledge
Article outline
  • 1.The significance of common ground
  • 2.Common ground and its near synonyms
  • 3.Defining common ground
  • 4.The interdependence of common ground and context
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 17 November 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.338.10all
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