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Abstract

Emotion framing is inherently shaped by the socio-cognitive experiences of language users and is manifested through both verbal and non-verbal communicative forms. The intricate nature of emotion framing within doctor–patient interactions provides the central motivation for this study. The research investigates the communicative strategies through which interlocutors construct and negotiate emotional meanings in medical encounters. Data were elicited from selected hospitals in Ilorin metropolis, Nigeria, and analysed within the framework of Communication Accommodation Theory, with specific attention to the dynamics of convergence and divergence. The analysis reveals that interlocutors achieve convergence by employing strategies such as acknowledgement, intensifiers, hedges, honorifics, as well as the strategic use of adjectives, adverbs, and verbs. Conversely, divergence is realised through the use of interjections and conditional statements, which serve to frame both positive and negative emotions. The findings further indicate that the use of a second language does not exert a significant influence on the ways in which emotions are framed in these encounters. Moreover, adherence to social norms is shown to be variable, as such conformity is mediated by cognitive processes rather than determined exclusively by linguistic or social constraints.