«In an era of increased digitalisation and performance targets, this book directs us back to the quintessential site of healthcare delivery, namely interpersonal contact between doctors, patients and family members. Through fine-grained analyses of clinical encounters involving older patients, Kondo beautifully illustrates the delicate interactional labour involved in compassionate, patient-centred communication and care.»

Spencer Hazel, Newcastle University, UK

«A fascinating study of the language of patient-centred communication in real settings, based on observation of real interactions between doctors and older patients in the home. This book sheds light on essential aspects such as politeness and empathy in medical consultations and has important implications for medical training.»

Ruth Breeze, University of Navarra, Spain

«Patient-centredness is crucial to good healthcare, but what does it actually mean when it comes to communication in different geographical contexts? This timely volume addresses this question with the nuance and insight that only a situated discourse-based approach can provide. Drawing on authentic healthcare interactions in Japan, this is a fascinating study that will be of interest to linguists and healthcare practitioners alike.»

Zsófia Demjén, Institute of Education, UCL, UK

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People who are interested in linguistics, especially in pragmatics (the study of language in use/contexts), may find this book fascinating in its quite novel perspective looking into face theory in PCC. The multiple qualitative methods of integrating the findings of literature review with empirical investigation in a culturally specific context shows both its practical and theoretical significance.

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Yufei Ren, Tsinghua University, China, LINGUIST List 34.687