Establishing emergent common ground

Abstract In the framework of the socio-cognitive approach, this article investigates how Chinese doctors’ use of metapragmatic expressions (MPEs) facilitates the construction of emergent common ground (ECG) in oncological consultations. Based on extracts from our medical corpus, this paper reveals that doctors primarily employ eight types of MPEs as ECG construction builders in interactions, i.e., commentaries, message glosses, evidentials, hedges, performatives, stance displayers, signaling expressions, and rapport indicators. It is found that oncologists use them to (1) construct ECG of information for clarifying the patients’ life-threatening condition, correcting patients’ misconceptions, and justifying treatment recommendations; and (2) construct ECG of (dis)affiliation for preemptively or retrospectively reconciling their institutional needs with the addressees’ emotional needs. This article aims to shed light on our understanding of the functioning mechanism of MPEs in ECG construction for the accomplishment of communicative tasks in highly sensitive Chinese oncological consultations.