Roger W. Shuy
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195181661
- eISBN:
- 9780199788477
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195181661.003.0010
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
This chapter describes an actual case that was anonymized at the request of counsel. Joseph Mussina was a physician who had previously performed an abortion for an immigrant client who kept calling ...
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This chapter describes an actual case that was anonymized at the request of counsel. Joseph Mussina was a physician who had previously performed an abortion for an immigrant client who kept calling his office about her physical and marital problems. In a bizarre series of calls to him during his busy office hours, she at first tried to get the doctor to script her about what she should tell her husband since she falsely believed the doctor wanted to marry her. Later, she tried to elicit an apology from him for having sexual relations with her during her previous visits. These taped conversations were the entire evidence used against the doctor. Linguistic analysis showed that he never admitted to having engaged in any inappropriate behavior. The speech act of apologizing is central to this analysis.Less
This chapter describes an actual case that was anonymized at the request of counsel. Joseph Mussina was a physician who had previously performed an abortion for an immigrant client who kept calling his office about her physical and marital problems. In a bizarre series of calls to him during his busy office hours, she at first tried to get the doctor to script her about what she should tell her husband since she falsely believed the doctor wanted to marry her. Later, she tried to elicit an apology from him for having sexual relations with her during her previous visits. These taped conversations were the entire evidence used against the doctor. Linguistic analysis showed that he never admitted to having engaged in any inappropriate behavior. The speech act of apologizing is central to this analysis.
