A Case Study of Nutritionists' Identity Construction In

EAP (print) issn 2055-7752 EAST ASIAN EAP (online) issn 2055-7760 PRAGMATICS Article

Medical experts as health knowledge providers: A case study of nutritionists’ identity construction in ‘wemedia’

Xingchen Shen

Abstract The rise of wemedia in China has brought challenges to public health communica tion (PHC), such as the change in doctor–patient relations and the vulnerability of trust. As few researchers have touched upon the issue of identity construction during PHC in Weibo, this study aims to fill this gap and investigate one health in formation provider’s discursive construction of multiple identities in Weibo and its pragmatic effect on trust building. Through this study the author attempts to con tribute to the existing scholarship on the dynamics of identity-relation construction in wemedia and the pragmatic construction of trustworthiness in a PHC context.

keywords: public health communication; pragmatics; identity; trust; wemedia

Affiliation Nanjing University email: [email protected] eap vol 4.2 19 263–291 https://doi.org/10.1558/eap.37686 ©9, equinox publishing 264 east asian pragmatics

1. Introduction

As an important site of exchanging healthcare information and building healthcare community, public health communication (PHC) has been much researched in the past several decades (Kreps, Bonaguro, & Query, 2003). As it is with other communicative activities, PHC evolves along with the evolution of communication media. In China, for example, the past decade witnessed the rising power of ‘New Media’, and their increasing share of the PHC floor (Chen & Liang, 2013; Tian, 2017). While the challenges brought by the new media environment to PHC has been touched upon by researchers in communication studies (e.g., Su, 2015; Hu, 2012), few researchers have investigated the issue of identity construction during PHC in new media, let alone in wemedia like Weibo, although the importance of successful identity construction in public communication has been more and more recognised.1 This study aims to fill this gap and investigate a nutritionist’s identity construction and its effect on trust building in Weibo. Through this study I will attempt to contribute to the knowledge on the dynamics of identity construction in wemedia and the pragmatic effect on the building of trustworthiness in a PHC context.

2. Research background

2.1 Identity research in public health communication Public health communication, in a broad sense, refers to communicative activi ties involving the topic of health, which includes several types: intrapersonal, interpersonal, group and organisational, and societal communication (Rogers, 1994; Kreps, et al., 2003; Zhang, 2005). In a narrow sense, it refers to communication of health information via public media for the purpose of disease pre- vention, health promotion, and also health marketing and health policy making. Since the beginning of the 1970s, PHC as a research area has been established, and varied research methods have been drawn from medical science, communication studies, sociology, psychology, and management science, etc. (Freeman, 1963; Korsch & Negrete, 1972; Kreps et al, 2003; Li, 2009; Rokeach, 1973). Zhang (2005) summarised the research agenda for PHC (in China) into nine directions,2 and most close to the pragmatic perspective is the direction “interpersonal health communication studies focusing on doctor–patient roles and relations” (p. 46). The research topics mainly include the conversational sequences and frames of doctor–patient communication (e.g., Gu, 1996; Kushida & Yamakawa, 2018; Shaw & Kitzinger, 2013; Sun, 2018; Wu, 2017; Yu, 2009) and the discursive construction of doctor–patient identities and relations (e.g., Chen, 2015; Barone & Lazzaro-Salazar, 2015; Setchell, Leach, Watson, & Hewett, 2015; Tian, 2017; Xia, 2016; Wang & Xu, 2017; Wang, You, & Ji, 2017; Warmington & McColl, 2017). Of medical experts as health knowledge providers 265 particular relevance to this study is research on the doctor/medical professional’s identity construction. As the past decade witnessed a ‘discursive’ turn in identity research (Benwell & Stokoe, 2006, p. 4), an increasing number of scholars conducted identity research from a social constructionist perspective (e.g., Antaki & Widdicome, 1998; Bucholtz & Hall, 2010; de Fina, Schiffrin, & Bamberg, 2006), which views identity as constructed discursively (Bhatia, 2004) by participants in interaction as part of social activity (Widdicombe, 1998), and which can be negotiated and reworked (Davies & Harré, 1990). The topic of doctors’ discursive identity construction has attracted increasing scholarly attention in the past few years (Barone & Lazza- ro-Salazar, 2015). These studies are mainly concerned with doctors’ (and other medical professionals’) discursive construction of professional and non-professional identities for themselves in real-life doctor–patient communication (e.g., Barone & Lazzaro-Salazar, 2015; Liang, 2014; Setchell, et al., 2015; Tan, 2018; Wang & Xu, 2017; Warmington & McColl, 2017, Xia, 2016), using research methods like conversation analysis method (e.g., Wang & Xu, 2017), membership categorisation analysis (e.g., Liang, 2014), critical discourse analysis (Tan, 2018), and discursive approach in general (Xia, 2016, 2017). The theories adopted include Simon’s (2008) self-aspect model of identity, Brewer & Gardner’s (1996) self-representation model, social identity theory (Turner & Oakes, 1986), and the integrated perspective of functional linguistics and critical discourse analy sis (e.g., Tan, 2018). Apart from studies concerned with doctors’ identity construction in healthcare settings as reviewed above, few studies examined doctors’ identity construction in cyberspace; for example, Xia (2016) analysed doctor identities constructed online by both doctors and netizens in the form of online postings within the framework of Simon’s self-aspect model of identity and found that doctors and netizens constructed drastically different identities for doctors. However, as far as the review goes, insufficient attention has been paid to the doctors’/medical professionals’ identity construction with the aim of providing healthcare service in cyberspace, wemedia in particular, and with a special focus on the potential influences of the media on the identity construction practice. In the section that follows, we review briefly research on the influence of new media to PHC.

2.2 Public health communication in the new media Research on PHC in China has mainly been conducted by communication scholars, and the topics researched mainly include the working mechanism of healthcare communication in new media, communication functions, and potential sequences (e.g., Hu, 2012; Su, 2015; Sun, 2012; Wu & Wu, 2010; Zheng, 2014). However, the web 2.0 era presents health communication with some major challenges which triggers scholarly reflections. For example, Hu (2012) pointed out 266 east asian pragmatics the problems of inefficient public information, a decentralised communication system, and a social media-centred lifestyle, and warned readers against the decentralisation of information providers in healthcare settings, as “everyone has a microphone” (2012, p. 7) in wemedia. Based on these challenges, Hu argues for a paradigm shift in PHC (pp. 8–10), from information to dialogue, from information flow to relational network, and from mutual interests to shared values. Also, Su (2015) examined the case of a controversial online public health event and discussed the influence of cyberspace on doctor–patient relations and health attitudes and health behaviours of patients. She argues that wemedia like QQ facilitates new modes of role-relations between the health information provider and the receiver (Su, 2015), as the wemedia environment provides patients with substantial information such that they obtain some bargaining power and right of choice. As little research has touched upon the identity work in PHC in new media (but see Xia, 2017), and scarcely any on the identity construction of health information providers in Weibo and its discursive realisations, this study aims to investigate one health information provider’s discursive construction of multiple identities in Weibo and its underlying rationale.

3. Methodology

3.1 Research questions The present study seeks to address the followingthree research questions: 1. Does the health knowledge provider construct for her/himself a professional identity? If yes, in what ways? 2. Does the health knowledge provider construct for her/himself identities other than professional ones? If yes, what identities and in what ways? 3. Why does the health knowledge provider construct the identities in question?

3.2 Data collection Sina Weibo (in this study simply called ‘Weibo’) is one of the most important wemedia platforms in China, providing the general public with platforms for sharing information and communicating every aspect of life. By September 2017, Weibo had 376 million monthly active users. Originally designed as a Twitter clone (Zhang & Kramarae, 2014), Weibo has many similarities with Twitter, such as the word limit for each post, the ‘addressivity’ function realised by the @ symbol, the function of replying, commenting, and reposting messages by other users. But unlike Twitter, Weibo has a complex system for verified accounts which belong variously to celebrities, business leaders, companies, government and organisations, and experts from many professions (Zhang & Kramarae, 2014). medical experts as health knowledge providers 267

An identity authentication is required for each verified user and is presented at their Weibo site. The data used in this study were collected from a verified account (identified as such by the orange V alongside the user name) in Weibo, its user name being a combination of the profession and name of the person, i.e., ‘Nutritionist G’. The identity information included the following: “former dietician at the nutrition department of Beijing Friendship Hospital, council member of Beijing dietitian association, columnist”. The reasons why I chose Nutritionist G’s Weibo account as the target of investigation were as follows: first, G boasts 2.79 million followers in Weibo, making him one of the most popular nutritionists in wemedia; second, G’s practice of health communication is recognised and appreciated by relevant organisations like the Chinese Scientific Association, the People’s Daily Press, and was ranked in the Ten Science Communication Figures of 2017; third, different from other popular nutritionists online, G’s interaction with his followers is comparatively substantial, and his identity construction practices abound, making his account a suitable target for investigation. For this study, I collected all posts that G made in June, 2018, which amounted to 21 article posts (which means posts in the form of complete articles, called ‘long posts’ in this study), 91 short posts including regular posts (i.e. standard posts), and some replies, reposts, and comments.

3.3 Data analysis In order to answer the three research questions, I analysed the data in the following three steps. Firstly, I scrutinised the data for discursive practices that contributed to G’s construction of the professional identity, i.e., the identity of a nutritionist. Secondly, I investigated the data for discursive practices that contributed to G’s construction of identities other than nutritionist. To identify the types of identities constructed, I adopted Chen’s (2018) framework of discursive practices of identity construction. Table 1: Discursive practices of identity construction (modified from Chen 2018, pp. 38-39) Discursive practices Description Code choice Languages (e.g., English, Chinese), dialects (e.g., Northeast Chinese dialect), specific code and slangs, etc. that index the identity of self or other Style choice Styles (e.g., formal, informal) that index the identity-relation of self or other Textual feature choice Textual or conversation-organisational features (e.g., turn-taking behaviours) that index the identity of self or other 268 east asian pragmatics

Discourse content Discourse content (e.g., topic, information, opinions, choice presuppositions) that indexes the identity of self or other Speech style choice Speech styles (e.g., the (in)directness with which a thought is expressed, the degree of commitment) that index the identity- relation of self or other Speech act choice Speech acts (e.g., criticism, compliment, suggestion, declaration) that index the identity of self or other Address term choice Address terms that index the identity of self or other Grammar choice Grammatical features (e.g., personal pronouns, tag questions) that index the identity of self or other Lexical and phrasal Lexicons and phrases (e.g., discourse markers, jargons, modal choice particles) that index identity-relations of self or other Phonetic feature choice Phonetic features (e.g., pitch, speed, tone quality, accent, standard pronunciation) Paralinguistic features Hand gestures, distance, eye expression, etc. that index identity of self or other

Chen’s (2018) framework proves beneficial for the discussion of identity construction. In the current study, though, I left out the analysis of phonetic features, which were not accessible in my written form of the data. Regarding the third question, I will discuss the possible rationale behind the public health communicator’s professional and non-professional identities from the perspective of trust.

4. Results

Based on data analysis, I found several different identities that G constructed in his discourse, which can be classified into three types: personal, relational, and collective. Different from classical identity categorisations, such as those proposed in Brewer and Gardner (1996) or Simon (2008), the three types of identities were specifically identified and classified with the aim of explicating the current data. In other words, ‘relational’ identities were defined as G’s identities with relation to the audience; whereas ‘personal’ identities were defined as G’s self-identities unrelated to the audience, be it professional (e.g., as a nutritionist) or non-professional (e.g., as a family member,3 or a person with hobbies); ‘collective’ identities were defined as G’s identities as a member of a specific community.

4.1 Gu’s construction of personal identities

4.1.1 Gu’s construction of professional personal identities as a nutritionist Based on the data, I identified six types of discursive practices that G deployed to construct his professional identity as a nutritionist. The six types of discursive practices include: medical experts as health knowledge providers 269

1. address terms, 2. lexical and phrasal choices, here jargon or semi-jargon,4 3. grammar choice, in this case the evidential resources, 4. discourse content, including topic, information, data as evidence, and opinion, 5. speech act, including suggesting and evaluating, 6. style. The results are presented in Table 2. Table 2: Gu’s discursive practices for constructing nutritionist identity Type Examples 1. Address term Napa shi yiban de huanzhe, women ye hui jianyi weichi meitian choices sanshi fenzhong de sanbu. 哪怕是一般的患者，我们也会建议维持每天30分钟的散步。 (0601) ‘Even for common patients, we would suggest that they walk for 30 minutes per day.’ Woshi yingyangshi, zhishi kepu yixue changshi, busheji zhenliao. 我是营养师，只是科普医学常识，不涉及诊疗 (0606) ‘I am a nutritionist, I only popularise basic medical knowledge, and do not engage in diagnosis.’ 2. Lexical and phrasal reliang 热量 ‘calory’; Henry Fangcheng Henry 方程 ‘Henry equa- choice: (semi-)jargon tion’; dianjiezhi 电解质 ‘electrolyte’; tanshuihuahewu 碳水化合物 ‘carbohydrate’; zhifangsuan 脂肪酸 ‘fatty acid’; weisuan 胃酸‘ gastric acid’; xuetangzhishu 血糖指数 ‘glycemic index’ 3. Grammar choice: Weishengsu B12 shuyu feichang anquan de yizhong weishengsu, evidentials richang shiyong zhong dou guancha budao you renhe weihai. 维生素B12属于非常安全的一种维生素，日常使用中都观察不到有任何危害。 (0602); ‘Vitamin B12 is a very safe type of vitamin, no harm is observed in its daily use.’ Meiguo xinzangbing xiehui zazhi fade yipian youguan … fenxi, jielun faxian … 美国心脏病协会杂志发的一篇有关…分析，结论发现…(0602) ‘According to the analysis of one article in the American Heart Association Journal concerning … it is found that …’ Lilunshang laishuo yao bi niunai shaowei duoyidian. 理论上来说要比牛奶稍微多一点 (0602) ‘Theoretically speaking (you should) drink a bit more (yogurt) than milk’ Youyixie yanjiu xianshi shuhou si dao liu ge yue nei, chidian yuyou, yu zhileide huiyou bangzhu. 270 east asian pragmatics

有一些研究显示术后4到6个月内，吃点鱼油、鱼之类的会有帮助。 (0606) ‘Some studies show that it is helpful to eat some fish oil or fish 4 to 6 months after surgery.’ 4. Discourse content (a) Topic ‘Potential danger of Vitamin B12’ (0602) ‘Highly efficient blood sugar control’ (0604) (b) Information Weishengsu B12 tezhi qinggu’an. 维生素B12特指氰钴胺 (0602) ‘The Vitamin B12 mentioned … refers to cyanocobalamin’ Shen haobuhao henzhongyao, shenzang keyi bangni guolv xueyezhong de feiwu, zhizao hongxibao, shengchan niaoye, chan- sheng weishengsu D dengdeng 肾好不好很重要，肾脏可以帮你过滤血液中的废物、制造红细胞、生产尿液、产生维生素D等等。 (0606) ‘The functioning of the kidneys is of great importance;kidneys can help you filter the waste in blood, produce red blood cells, produce urine, and produce Vitamin D, etc.’ (c) Data as evidence Ruguo nengliang kuikong 7700 qianka 如果能量亏空7700千卡 ‘if there is 7700 kcal’s shortage’ Gaipian yipian zhishao you 300 haoke 钙片一片至少有300毫克 ‘There are at least300 milligrams (calcium) in one calcium tablet.’ 400 IU de weishengsu E 400IU的维生素E ‘400IU Vitamin E’ (d) Opinion Zongeryanzhi, worenwei qinggu’an duiyu zhengchangren laishuo haishi anquande, shi keyi chi yonglai yufang weishengsu B12 quefa de, dan ruguo jiliang bijiaoda, tebieshi you shengongneng buquan de huanzhe, youtiaojiande zuihao haishi huancheng jiagu’an, qianggu’an deng leisi zhiji. 总而言之，我认为氰钴胺对于正常人来说还是安全的，是可以吃用来预防维生素B12缺乏的，但如果剂量比较大、特别是有肾功能不全的患者，有条件的最好还是换成甲钴胺、羟钴胺等类似制剂。(0602) medical experts as health knowledge providers 271

‘All in all, I think cyanocobalamin is quite safe for common people, and can be used to prevent the Vitamin B12 deficiency, but if a large dosage is needed, especially for patients with renal insufficiency, it’s better to change to methylcobalamin or hydrox- ocobalamin if possible.’ 5. Speech act (a) Directives Suggesting Daduoshu ren shanshixianwei de shuru dou bugou, haishi yingdang jinliang buchong. 大多数人膳食纤维的摄入都不够，还是应当尽量补充 (0604) ‘Most people have insufficient intake of dietary fibre, thus it’s necessary to supplement it when possible.’ Shouxian jizhu, yan he jia dou yingdang yange xianzhi. 首先记住，盐和钾都应当严格限制 (0606) ‘First remember that salt and pottasium should be closely restricted …’ Evaluating Youren wen shenme dongxi chile zhihou keyi jiang xuetang, zhege jibenshang shiyige beilun. 有人问什么东西吃了之后可以“降”血糖，这个基本上是一个悖论 (0604) ‘Someone asks what can “reduce” blood sugar after having eaten; this is basically a paradox.’ Wo buqingchu ni geren de jichuzhuangkuang he jirouliliang, dan jiu dayangben de shuju laikan, ni zhege paobuliang wentibuda. 我不清楚你个人的基础状况和肌肉力量，但就大样本的数据来看，你这个跑步量问题不大 (0611) ‘I do not know your basic information and muscle strength, but based on a large sample of data, your amount of running is unproblematic.’ 6. Style Formal: e.g., formal address terms: Wo juede ruguo zaiyi nin keyi qu shaicha yixie gumidu 我觉得如果在意您可以去筛查一些骨密度 (0606) ‘I think you can examine bone density if you are having concerns.’

4.1.2 Gu’s construction of non-professional personal identities Based on the data, I find that G deployed various discursive practices to construct several non-professional personal identities, mainly including father, husband, 272 east asian pragmatics son, video-game player, tech enthusiast, bodybuilder, and news follower. For con- venience of analysis, I classify the above seven identities into two categories: (1) family member identities, including father, husband, and son; (2) hobby-related identities, including video-game player, tech enthusiast, bodybuilder, and news follower. The discursive practices that are used for constructing the two kinds of identities are presented in Table 3 and Table 4 respectively. In Table 3 we see that G deployed six types of discursive practices to construct for himself the identities of family member, including (1) family-related address terms; (2) family-related lexical and phrasal choices; (3) discourse content, including family-related topics, narrative, and direct quotations; (4) speech acts, including expressives and questioning, which is different from the speech acts of suggesting and evaluating, whereas the latter two, as we found, were typically used in professional identity construction; (5) overall informal style realised in strategies like humour, informal address terms, use of adjectives and adverbs, and informal word choices. The informal style is different from the formal style prominent in professional identity construction. One interesting point to note, among other things, is that Gu adopted the strategy of questioning in constructing his identity as a family member, which is somewhat different from previous literature, where questions are frequently deployed to construct an authority or expert identity (Barone & Lazzaro-Salazar, 2015; Boyd & Heritage, 2006; Freed & Ehrlich, 2010). Moreover, instead of asking questions in order to give suggestions as is common in doctor–patient interactions (e.g., Liang, 2014), Gu asked some questions in order to get advice (Example (i) in Table 3), or to be humorous (Example (ii) in Table 3). Table 3: Gu’s discursive practices for constructing family member identities Type Examples 1. Address term choices woma 我妈 ‘my mom’; Gu Damei 顾大美 ‘Gu Dame’; laopo 老婆 ‘wife’; laoba 老爸 ‘dad’; Damei 大美 ‘Damei’; wo laopo 我老婆 ‘my wife’ 2. Lexical and phrasal choice ertongjie 儿童节 ‘Children’s Day’ (0601); fuqinjie 父亲 (family related words) 节 ‘Father’s Day’ (0616) 3. Discourse content (a) topic Gu Damei and the cat (0601); Father’s Day presents (0616); ‘Watching World Cup with wife four years ago’ (0626); ‘How to dodge Gu Damei when working’ (0627) (b) narrative Qishi wo genben bukanqiu, natian weile pei laopo banye dakai zhibo kanle shiji fenzhong. medical experts as health knowledge providers 273

其实我根本不看球，那天为了陪老婆半夜打开直播看了十几分钟 (0626) ‘In fact, I do not watch football, but I watched the live stream for ten minutes or so in the midnight with my w i fe .’ Daizhe gudamei lai jindingxuan, xiawandan bangeduo xiaoshi damei kuaichiwan le zhengdan haimei shang, laopo qu zhao dianyuan. 带着顾大美来金鼎轩，下完单半个多小时大美快吃完了蒸蛋还没上，老婆去找店员。 (0630) ‘Brought Gu Damei to Jindingxuan; half an hour after the order Damei had nearly finished her meal, but the steamed egg was not brought to us; my wife went to speak to the waiter.’ (c) direct quotation Laopo wang mingchu piaole yiyan, ‘wo mingming kandao nimen ganggang dao danye! Yuanlai haimei zuo!’ 老婆往明厨瞟了一眼：“我明明看到你们刚刚倒蛋液！原来还没做！” (0630) ‘My wife took a look at the open kitchen: “I saw that you only just poured in the egg. You have not yet started!”’ Wo gei laopo kanle zhege xinwen, ta shenqingde wang- zhewo: ‘zenmeban ya?’ Wo xinli yizhen gandong. ‘Ni zai sizhiqian yiding liugeiwo zugouduo de qian ya.’ 我给老婆看了这个新闻，她深情地望着我：“怎么办呀！”我心里一阵感动。“你在死之前一定留给我足够多的钱呀。” (0609) ‘I show this news (about a man’s early death due to overwork) to my wife. She looked at me with deep affection: “What shall I do (when this happens)?” I was touched. “You must leave me enough money before you die.”’ 4. Speech act (a) Expressives Wo xinli yizhen gandong. 我心里一阵感动 (0609) ‘I was moved’ (b) Directives Questioning (i) Dajia fuqinjie dou song laoba shenme liwu a? 大家父亲节都送老爸什么礼物啊？ (0616) 274 east asian pragmatics

‘What do you guys get your father for Father’s Day?’ (ii) Diyici fumianmo, weishenme wode yangzi gen bieren butai yiyang? 第一次敷面膜，为什么我的样子跟别人不太一样？ (0617) ‘It’s my first time applying a facial mask; why do I look different from the others?’ (With a picture of him applying a mask without tearing away the protective plastic sheet.) 5. Style Informal: (1) Humour: e.g., Diyici fumianmo, weishenme wode yangzi gen bieren butai yiyang? 第一次敷面膜，为什么我的样子跟别人不太一样？ (0617) ‘It’s my first time applying a facial mask. Why do I look different from others?’ (With a picture of him applying a mask without tearing away the protective plastic sheet.) (2) Informal address terms: e.g., Damei 大美 ‘Damei’ (3) Adjectives and adverbs: Laopo hen qifen 老婆很气愤0630 ‘Wife was very angry’ (4) Informal word choices, e.g.: Wo laopo ganggang dou lai wenwo gansha le. 我老婆刚刚都来问我干啥了 (0626) ‘My wife just asked me what I have done’

In Table 4 we see the four types of discursive practices used by G in constructing hobby-related identities, such as video-game player, tech enthusiast, bodybuilder, and news follower. The four types of discursive practices include:( 1) lexical and phrasal choices related to hobbies, including (semi-)jargon and other hobby-related words that index certain places, actions, or persons; (2) discourse content related to hobbies, including topics, information, opinion, and narrative; (3) speech acts such as expressives and suggestions based on hobby-related experience; (4) overall informal style realised by strategies like humour and informal word choices. medical experts as health knowledge providers 275

Table 4: Gu’s discursive practices for constructing hobby-related identities Type Examples 1. Lexical and phrasal choice (a) (Semi-)jargon xps13; matebook X Pro; Hi-Res; 3K ping 3K 屏 ‘3K screen’ (0604); sanre 散热 ‘heat dissipation’; jufen 菊粉 ‘Ju Fen’ (b) Hobby-related words gym; running outside; pick (0624); Duan Ao’juan 段奥娟 ‘Duan Aojuan’; Meng Meiqi 孟美岐 ‘Meng Meiqi’ 2. Discourse content (a) Topic Buying computer (0602); noise-cancelling headphones (0604); sports watch (0617); Jurassic World: Fallen King- dom (0617); ‘Rocket Girls 101’ (0624); ‘King of Glory’ and ‘health preservation in video games’ (0630) (b) Information Shice zhongliang 1343 ke, bi wode 700 ke pingban, 800 ke jianpan jiaqilai qing. 实测重量1343g，比我的700g平板，800g键盘加起来轻 (0609) ‘The measured weight is 1343g, lighter than my 700g pad and 800g keyboard added together.’ (c) Opinion Zhuluoji shijie er … qingjie bijiao ruozhi, texiao hen bizhen, you henduo xiahuren de qiaoduan yiji shuaige meinv yiji keai de luoli. 侏罗纪世界2…情节比较弱智，特效很逼真，有很多吓唬人的桥段以及帅哥美女以及可爱的萝莉。 (0617) ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom … naive plot, life-like special effects. There are many frightening comedy rou- tines, beautiful men and women, and cute little girls.’ (d) Narrative Wo maiguo liuqige zhudong jiangzao erji. 我买过六七个主动降噪耳机 (0604) ‘I have bought six or seven sets of noise cancelling headphones.’ Jianyu shangzhou zhibo henka, wo xin mailege luyouqi… 鉴于上周直播很卡，我新买了个路由器… (0621) ‘As last week’s live broadcast is not fluent, I bought a new router …’ 3. Speech act (a) Expressives [3k ping queshi bucuo,] henmanyi. [3K屏确实不错,]很满意。 (0609) ‘[3K screen is indeed good,] I am quite satisfied.’ 276 east asian pragmatics

(b) Directives Suggestion Ruguo ni dasuan mai jiangzao erji, jianyi shouxian queren yixia nide changing. 如果你打算买降噪耳机，建议首先确认一下你的场景 (0604) ‘If you plan to buy noise cancelling headphones, I suggest you first confirm your situation for usage.’ Zheniantou shuidou burongyi, miandui jiliede jingzheng, yiding yao xuehui yangsheng. #wangzhe rongyao#. 这年头谁都不容易，面对激烈的竞争，一定要学会养生。# 王者荣耀# (0630) ‘No one lives easily nowadays. When faced with fierce competition, you must learn to preserve your health. #King of Glory#’ 4. Style Informal: (1) Humour; e.g.: Jingdong jintian you miaosha ne! Pianyi le shiyi yuan. 京东今天有【秒杀】呢！便宜了11元。 (0604) ‘Today JingDong has sniping today! It’s 11 yuan less!’ (2) Informal word choices; e.g.: Zuihou zhekuan bijiben sanre zhende buzayang. 最后这款笔记本散热真的不咋样 (0609) ‘And finally, this notebookreally did poorly on heat dissipation.’ Kanqiu de zhengque zishi. 看球的正确“姿势” (0615) ‘The correct posture“ (knowledge)” for watching football.’

4.2 Gu’s construction of relational identities Apart from the nutritionist identity and other non-professional personal identities, G also constructed for himself, though to a lesser extent, certain relational identities when he discursively constructed him and the audience as ‘peers’. The discursive practices he adopted include particular address terms, personal pronouns, and informal style. Table 5: Gu’s discursive practices for constructing relational identities Type Examples 1. Address term choices Jingchang you pengyou genwo shuo … 经常有朋友跟我说… (0601) ‘There are usuallyfriends who tell me that …’ medical experts as health knowledge providers 277

You tongxue renwei zaoshang kongfu zhuangtai duanlian, hui zhijie kaishi ranshao zhifang. 有同学认为早上空腹状态锻炼，会直接开始燃烧脂肪。 (0601) ‘Some classmates may think that exercise in the morning with an empty stomach can burn the fat directly.’ Jinwan jiudian zhaozhang zhibo … dajia youshenme wenti yekeyi xian liuyan ou. 今晚9点照常直播…大家有什么问题也可以先留言哦~ (0607) ‘Live stream at 9 o’clock tonight. … You guys can leave messages first if you have any questions.’ Wufa dida xianchang de xiaohuoban, ke zhijie jinru … wangye lianjie. 无法抵达现场的小伙伴，可直接进入…网页链接 … (0608) ‘Little buddies who cannot make it, can enter directly the web link of …’ 2. Personal pronouns Wo buzhidao nide richang shenghuo huanjing.

我不知道你的日常生活环境 (0611) ‘I do not know about your environment.’ Dan zhishao duoyundong keyi gaishan xueya he tangdaixie, douhui zhijie yingxiang womende shenzang gongneng. 但至少多运动可以改善血压和糖代谢，都会直接影响我们的肾脏功能。 (0606) ‘But frequent exercise can improve on blood pressure and glycometabolism, all of which will have direct effect on our renal function.’ Cong yuanlishang laishuo, women suiran burang xuetang douran xiajiang, danshi women keyi rang xuetang shenggao de sudu huanman yixie. 从原理上来说，我们虽然不让血糖陡然下降，但是我们可以让血糖升高的速度缓慢一些 (0604) ‘Based on theoretical principles, although we cannot reduce the blood sugar level abruptly, we can make the blood sugar level rise slower.’ 3. Style Informal: (1) informal word choices: Lingwai zhengchang de shuiguo henduo hantangliang jiu yijing hengao le, xiang putaozhi shenme zhileide. 另外正常的水果很多含糖量就已经很高了，像葡萄汁什么之类的 (0602) 278 east asian pragmatics

‘Besides regular fruits already contains a very high percentage of sugar, like grape juice and the sort …’ (2) humour: Ji wode lvpishu, hongpishu yihou, huangpishu you chuban la! Kaige wanxiao. 继我的绿皮书、红皮书以后，黄皮书又出版啦！开个玩笑… ‘After my green book, red book, the yellow book is released!I was only joking …’

4.3 Gu’s construction of collective identities Based on the data, G also constructed for himself some collective identities, that is, being a member of some specified communities, such as the nutritionist community, the researcher community, (former) member of the doctor community, the internet celebrity community. The following four types of discursive practices are adopted by G in constructing collective identities: (1) address terms indexing a certain community or members of a community; (2) lexical and phrasal choices or other semiotic choices implicating certain group membership, particularly the use of the addressivity symbol ‘@’, which is characteristic of Weibo communication (Zhang & Kramarae, 2014); (3) personal pronouns, for example the exclusive use of we; (4) discourse content related to group membership, such as narrative; (5) formal style. Overall, within the limit of our data, G only constructed collective identities relevant to his profession, such as the four collective identities indicated above.5 Table 6: Gu’s discursive practices for constructing collective identities Type Examples 1. Address term choices Zheliangtian yeyou yixie laoshi zai taolun zhejianshi. 这两天也有一些老师在讨论这件事 (0608) ‘Some teachers were talking about this issue these days’ Mashang jiuyao gaokao le, youmeiyou zheliangnian biye de yingyang zhuanye tongxue fenxiang yixia youguan baokao yingyang zhuanye de jianyi? 马上就要高考了，有没有这两年毕业的营养专业同学分享一下有关报考营养专业的建议？ ‘Gaokao is approaching; are there schoolmates who graduated from nutrition major that can share some suggestions on choosing nutrition major?’ 2. Lexical and phrasal Zhongguo yingyang xuehui. choices and other semi- 中国营养学会 (0611) otic choices (e.g., ‘@’) ‘Chinese Society of Nutrition’ medical experts as health knowledge providers 279

Dangshi bushishuo yao xie yiju jiayou guli de hua ma, yuanlai keyi xiang @yingyangyishiwangxingguo nayang xie nameduo ya … @weibojiankangyiliao xieshou @yingyangshiguzhongyi @yandaifuliaoganbing @ yingyangyishiwangxingguo … liuwei hangye daV yiqi #jiankangzhuligaokao#. 当时不是说要写一句加油鼓励的话嘛，原来可以像@营养医师王兴国那样写那么多呀。…@微博健康医疗携手@营养师顾中一 @闫大夫聊肝病 @营养医师王兴国…六位行业大V一起#健康助力高考#…(0606) ‘Was the requirement not one sentence? Now I know that writing much longer like @Nutritionist doctor Wang Xingguo … @Weibo healthcare go hand-in-hand with @Nutritionist Gu Zhongyi @Doctor Yan talk about hepatopathy @Nutritionist doctor Wang Xingguo … Six professional Big V to #Health Help Gaokao# …’ En, xinziyuan, tianjiaji mingdan zhong doumeiyou jinbo @ songshuyunwuxin. Jushuo jinbobingjiling yijing denglu shanghai. Danshi, zhongguo bingmeiyou pizhun jinbo zuowei shipin tianjiaji. 嗯，新资源、添加剂名单中都没有金箔@松鼠云无心据说“金箔冰激凌”已经登陆上海。…但是，中国并没有批准金箔作为食品添加剂… (0630) ‘Yes, the list of new resources and additives do not include gold foil. @Squirrel Cloud No Heart: It is said that “gold foil ice cream” has entered Shanghai … But China has not ratified gold foil as a food additive …’ 3. Personal pronouns Women yiban suoshuode yingyang jiangxuetang, zhideshi zai huode chongzude yingyangwuzhi de qiantixia, genghaode kong- zhi nide xuetang fanying, bingqie ba nengliang sheru xianzhizai shidang de fanweinei. 我们一般所说的“营养降血糖”，指的是在获得充足的营养物质的前提下，更好地控制你的血糖反应，并且把能量摄入限制在适当的范围 (0604) ‘The “nutrition decrease blood glucose” thatwe often talk about, means a better control of your blood glucose reaction and keeps energy intake within a reasonable range, all under the condition of adequate nutrient substance.’ Yingyang shang women shouxian shi jianyi … 营养上我们首先是建议… (0612) ‘For nutrition we suggest that first …’ 280 east asian pragmatics

4. Discourse content (a) Narrative Wo hai bangmang shenle jipian youguan lizhibing de kepu wenzhang. 我还帮忙审了几篇有关荔枝病的科普文章 (0608) ‘I helped review several popular science articles concerning litchi sickness.’ Wo he nage zisha de hushi cengshi tongyijia yiyuan de yuangong, keneng yinwei zheceng guanxi, wo yizhi zai jinkeneng lijie ta. 我和那个自杀的护士曾是同一家医院的员工，可能因为这层关系，我一直在尽可能理解她。 (0602) ‘I and the nurse who committed suicide were both employees of the same hospital, maybe because of this relation, I had been trying to understand her.’ 5. style Formal: e.g., address term choice: yixie laoshi 一些老师 (0608) ‘some teachers’; yingyang yishi wangxingguo 营养医师王兴国 (0606) ‘Nutritionist doctor Wang Xingguo’

5. Discussion: Trust building through constructing multiple identities

In the sections above I explored the multiple types of identity that G constructed through his various posts in June 2018. One question naturally arises: why does G construct for himself such varying identities? As this study focuses on PHC, I propose to analyse it from the perspective of trust, as the latter has always been a major concern in healthcare communication (e.g., Barber, 1983; Cook, 2001; Gorlin, 1999), and even more so in the current wemedia context (e.g., Chen & Liang, 2013; Hu, 2012; Su, 2015; Zheng, 2014) wherein the use of new media (including wemedia) decreases patients’ trust in doctors and healthcare experts (Zheng, 2014). Consequently, the rebuilding of trust is one of the most important items on the agenda of healthcare communication (Chen & Liang, 2013). Definitions of trust vary. nI this study I define trust, based mainly on Boon and Holmes (1991) and Candlin and Crichton (2013), as a discursive practice aiming at a confident positive expectation that is continually constructed, negotiated, and accomplished among different participants. Thus defined,I intend to emphasise the discursive and dynamic features of trust building. Scholarly interest in trust dates back to Aristotle’s theorisation of ethos, pathos, and logos (Metzger & Flanagin, 2013). Modern investigation on trust can be broadly divided into two approaches (Metzger & Flanagin, 2013): the first medical experts as health knowledge providers 281 approach (e.g., Flanagin & Metzger, 2011; Fogg, 2003; Fogg et al., 2003; Metzger, 2007) as adopted in the field of information science focuses on the believability of messages, which is similar to Aristotle’s notion of logos; the second approach (e.g., Jordan, 2005; Lorenzo-Dus & Izura, 2017; Mieroop, 2018) as adopted in the fields of psychology and communication, focuses on the believability of the source, and it depends largely on the perceptions of the trustworthiness and expertise of the source as interpreted by the information receiver (Metzger & Flanagin, 2013; Hovland, Janis, & Kelley, 1953). In the latter approach, identity has proven to be one of the useful perspectives (e.g., Lewicki & Bunker, 1996; Lorenzo-Dus & Izura, 2017; Mieroop, 2018). In this study I follow the latter approach and argue that, to some extent, G constructs for himself various identities with the aim of earning trust from his followers. In order to explain this, I first recategorise the four types of identities discussed above into two complementary categories: (1) expertise-related identities; (2) non-expert identities. Their effects on trust building are explained separately below.

5.1 Expertise-related identities for building authority-based trust The expertise-related identities include not only what I describe as ‘professional identity’, but also ‘collective identity’, since the latter indicates G’s membership of specialised groups or associations that require profession-based qualifications (e.g., as a member of the nutritionist community or the researcher community). The relation of authority and trust has been well documented, for example in studies on the ‘authority’ heuristic in credibility assessment (e.g., Koh & Sundar, 2010; Metzger & Flanagin, 2013). Consequently, the construction of authoritative identity, as what has been done in G’s case, would contribute to the building of trust.

5.2 Non-expert identities for building identification-based trust What I term ‘non-expert identities’ here include the personal and relational identities discussed earlier. The two seemingly very different identity types can be categorised as one here because they all contribute to the effect which I would like to term as ‘identity echo’, denoting the effect of feeling (partly) identified with the speaker. This ‘identification’ can result from different sources, for example the construction of peer relations (‘relational identities’), and the construction of shared emotions/experiences (e.g. through the construction of family-member identities or hobby-related identities). The connection between identification and trust is explicitly illustrated by Shapiro, Sheppard, and Cheraskin (1992) in their theorisation of “identification-based trust”, i.e., trust stemming from empathy with the other party’s desires and intentions because of the emotional connection between them (Lewicki & Bunker, 1996), and also, from the perspective of social psychology, by Tajfel & 282 east asian pragmatics

Turner (1986), in their Social Identity Theory (SIT), wherein they argue that people tend to identify more firmly with their relevant social groups and that this identification drives people’s attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours. It logically follows in SIT that information originating from social groups that the participants identify with will be granted more credibility (Metzger & Flanagin, 2013). Hence, in giving more personal information from various perspectives, for example interactions and experiences as a son, a husband, a father, a bodybuilder, a video-game player, a tech enthusiast, and a news follower, etc., G is creating more opportunities for the audience to share his experiences and bond with him, and the use of personal pronouns like ni 你 ‘you’ and wo 我 ‘I’ instead of more detached address terms like huanzhe 患者 ‘patient’, benren 本人 ‘myself’ and the honorificnin 您 ‘you’ which occurs in discourse from other nutritionist in Weibo, and the inclusive ‘we’ and ‘us’ all contribute to the establishment of a close relationship.

5.3 Identity synthesisation and trust building In analysing the data, I found that, despite G’s habit of telling personal stories mostly in the form of short blogs and broadcasting nutritional information in the form of long blogs (i.e., articles), hence constructing professional and non-professional identities separately, he also frequently synthesised the two types of identities through various discursive practices which can be accounted for by genre hybridity and style mixing.6 I contend that this kind of identity synthesisation would contribute to trust building through displaying a more personalised and thus more effective professional self-image. I shall term this process as ‘unprofessional to be professional’ (for comparison, see also Scheuer’s (2001) and Mieroop’s (2018) discussion of the effect of personalised accounts in professional identity construction). In this section I shall briefly discuss this phenomenon and its contribution to trust building.

5.3.1 Genre hybridity I adopt Swales’s (1990) definition of genre here. According to him, genre is, A class of communicative events, the members of which share some set of communicative purposes. These purposes are recognized by the expert members of the parent discourse community, and thereby constitute the rationale for the genre. This rationale shapes the schematic structure of the discourse and influences and constrains choice of content and style …

(1990, p. 58) Hence to some extent we may assert that a particular genre is triggered by a given communicative purpose (see also Blitvich, 2010). In my data, I do find cases medical experts as health knowledge providers 283 where different communicative purposes are mixed, for example see the following thread: Huojian shaonv 101 zhejigeren li wo zui pick Duan aojuan zhekuan, Meng meiqi de jiu bijiao cha. Qianzhe bijing shi zhishao 80% niunai de tiaozhiru, danbaizhi you 2.3%, er houzhe zuowei hanruyinliao danbaizhi wangwang yejiu 1.0-1.5%, cong bugai he danbaizhi de jiaodu laishuo haishi tiaozhiru hao. Daoshi houzhe yongle juputaotang zuowei shanshixianwei, tigaole qi yingyangjiazhi, buguo wohaishi gengxiangnian jufen. 火箭少女101这几个人里我最pick段奥娟这款，孟美岐的就比较差。前者毕竟是至少80%牛奶的调制乳，蛋白质有2.3%，而后者作为含乳饮料蛋白质往往也就1.0-1.5%，从补钙和蛋白质的角度来说还是调制乳好。倒是后者用了聚葡萄糖作为膳食纤维，提高了其营养价值，不过我还是更想念菊粉。 ‘Among the Rocket Girls 101, I pick most the Duan Aojuan type, while the Meng Meiqi type is rather poorer. After all the former is modified milk with 80% of milk, and contains 2.3% protein, while the latter as a milk beverage usually contains only 1.0% to 1.5% protein. Thus, modified milk is better from the perspective of calcium and protein supplement. On the other hand, the latter uses polydextrose as dietary fibre, thus increasing its nutritive value. But I miss inulin (jufen) m ore .’ (0624-1)

In this thread G does two things: in the first paragraph he gives a small talk on the ‘Rocket Girls 101’, a girl group made up of winners of the talent show ‘Produce 101’, which can be classified as gossip genre, and he even uses the word ‘pick’, a meme that stems from the same show. But starting from the second paragraph, he says, “After all the former is modified milk with 80% of milk, which contains 2.3% protein, while the latter as a milk beverage usually contains only 1.0% to 1.5% protein”, which, in his humorous way, makes the audience realise that he is actually talking about the milk products that the two rocket girls (i.e. Duan and Meng) endorse. Hence the whole blog falls into the healthcare promotion genre, in which G provides nutritional knowledge. The third paragraph makes more explicit the genre hybridity with the discussion of jufen, a pun meaning both a type of dietary fibre, ‘inulin’, and fans of Wang Ju, one of the talents in the same show, ‘Ju’s fans’. This kind of genre mixing is welcomed by the audience. For example, one audience member comments on this thread: G xiansheng a, wo jintian gen pengyou anli le ni, wo shuo ni guanzhu ta, kan tade zhuanye shi qici, ta cengredian de haoxiao Chengdu caishi zhongzhongdian, haha- haha, ni zhende tai haoxiao le. 284 east asian pragmatics

G先生啊，我今天跟朋友安利了你，我说关注他，看他的专业是其次，他蹭热点的好笑程度才是重重点，哈哈哈哈，你真的太好笑了 ‘Mr G, I recommended you to my friends today, I said, “You follow him; his expertise is not the most important thing, but his funny way of chasing the hot news is. Haha- haha, you are really so funny.”’

5.3.2 Style mixing The ‘style’ here is understood as the “degree of formality of language use” (Chen, 2013). Researchers have proposed different categorisations of styles. For example, Joos (1967) put forward five different styles, namely the frozen style, the formal style, the consultative style, the casual style, and the intimate style. Other categorisations also focus on communicative forms (monologue vs dialogue) and communicative channel (spoken vs written). In my data, G mixes different styles quite often, using strategies like address term choices, personal pronouns, rhetorical questions, and humour, etc. (1) Address term choices

You tongxue renwei zaoshang kongfu zhuangtai duanlian, hui zhijie kaishi ranshao zhifang … 有同学认为早上空腹状态锻炼，会直接开始燃烧脂肪…(0601) ‘Some classmates may think that exercise in the morning with an empty stomach can burn the fat directly …’

This excerpt occurs in the healthcare promotion genre. By common knowledge on healthcare promotion, we would expect a formal style with relevant formal address terms, for example, ‘some patients’. However, an informal address term ‘some classmates’ is used in replacement, which indexes an informal element in the overall formal statement. (2) Personal pronouns

Women youxieren weisuan fenmi bijiaoshao, ni hennan qu xiaohua tansuangai. 我们有些人胃酸分泌比较少，你很难去消化碳酸钙。(0602) ‘Some of us may have lesser gastric acid secretion. Then it will be difficult foryou to digest calcium carbonate.’

Excerpt (2) also occurs in the healthcare promotion genre. The choice of topic (‘relation between gastric acid secretion and calcium carbonate digestion’) and the use of jargon, among other features, render the statement quite formal. On the other hand, the use of inclusive we in ‘some of us’, and the use of the second person pronoun instead of a more detached address term like patient, indexes some informal elements. medical experts as health knowledge providers 285

(3) Rhetorical questions

Youmeiyou yixie yong suipianhua shijian jiu keyi zuo de jianfei yundong? Youmeiyou buyong henlei jiukeyi bianshou de jianbian yundong? … Zhangwo zhexie yuanli, niye nenggou jiang jianfei xiaoguo tiaozhengdao zuijia zhuangtai. 有没有一些用碎片化时间就可以做的减肥运动？有没有不用很累就可以变瘦的简便运动？… 掌握这些原理，你也能够将减肥效果调整到最佳状态。 (0601) ‘Is there any losing-fat exercise that can be done in time fragments? Is there any simple exercise that can be done without being exhausted? … After mastering these principles, you can also maximise your fat-loss effect.’

Excerpt (3) contains two rhetorical questions at the beginning of quite a long healthcare promoting article (not fully quoted here). The speech act of questioning is not quite expected in a healthcare promoting article, as experts are more expected to give suggestions or make evaluations (see Table 2). I contend that by asking questions, even only rhetorically, G superficially modifies the power relation between himself and the readers, making himself more approachable, and hence adding some informal atmosphere into the overall formal discourse. (4) Humour

Yige anchundan de yingyang xianran buru yige jidan. Yinwei yige anchundan keshiyong de bufen yejiu 9 ke, er yige jidan zai 50 ke zuoyou … Haoba bu kaiwanxiao le, qishi anchundan de yingyang he jidan chabuduo … 一个鹌鹑蛋的营养显然不如一个鸡蛋。因为一个鹌鹑蛋可食用的部分也就9克，而一个鸡蛋在50克左右…好吧不开玩笑了，其实鹌鹑蛋的营养和鸡蛋差不多… (0614) ‘The nutritive value of one quail egg is obviously lower than one chicken egg. Because the edible part of one quail egg is 9g, while that of one chicken egg is 50g … Okay I will stop joking, in fact the nutritive value of quail egg is almost the same as chicken egg …’

Excerpt (4) contains a humorous remark made by G during his act of broadcasting healthcare information. The function of humour on indexing informal style has been well researched (e.g., Chen, 2013; Mieroop & Schnurr, 2018). These above strategies all contribute to the mixing of informal style into the formal style with the latter being typical of scientific knowledge broadcasting. As has been reported in the analyses on different identities and their corresponding discursive practices above (Tables 2–6), professional identities are related to formal style, whereas non-professional identities feature informal style. I contend that through the discursive practices of genre hybridity and style mixing, G’s professional and non-professional identities are somewhat synthesised, which, set against the overall purpose of healthcare promotion and the overall professional discourse context, contribute to the construction of professional identities and trust. 286 east asian pragmatics

6. Conclusion

In this study I analysed one health knowledge provider’s construction of various identities, their pragmatic realisations and pragmatic effects. The findings can be summarised as follows: (1) nutritionist G constructed for himself various identities, including expertise-based (i.e., professional personal identity as a nutritionist; collective identities as a member of professional communities), non-expertise based, which in turn included personal (e.g., family-based identities; hobby-related identities), and relational identities; (2) the multiple identities constructed all contribute to trust building, by means of authority-based trust building or identification-based trust building; (3) the dynamics of identity construction is revealed in the process which I termed ‘identity synthesisation’, in which unprofessional identities are constructed in professional settings using strategies like genre hybridity and style mixing, with the aim of contributing to the ‘professional’ effect of the whole discourse. Through this minute analysis of nutritionist’s identity construction in wemedia, I hope I have contributed to the research into PHC, especially how to adapt to the wemedia environment through the discursive construction of trustworthy identities and also, theoretically, I hope that this study has some implications for the dynamics of trust building through identity construction, as demonstrated for example in the form of identity synthesisation. Due to the limits of time and data size, the current analysis of identities is non-exhaustive. In addition, I did not analyse the audience response to the identity-related discourse. These issues will be discussed in future studies.

Acknowledgment This study is supported by Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (KYCX18_0014).

About the author Xingchen Shen is a doctoral candidate at Nanjing University, China. Her research interests include interpersonal pragmatics, cognitive pragmatics and historical pragmatics.

Notes 1. According to the 2017 Report on New Media Trends, charismatic identities become key dissemination nodes in new media communication. https:// www.sohu.com/a/210115105_99943379 2. For a detailed list of the nine directions, see Zhang (2005, pp. 45–47). 3. Note that the ‘personal identity as a family member’ here would be classified elsewhere as interpersonal identity (e.g., Brewer & Gardner, 1996) or inter- actional identity (Tracy, 2002). medical experts as health knowledge providers 287

4. Here ‘semi-jargon’ refers to terms that are not considered ‘jargon’, but bear a certain professional background or that are viewed as typically used by people from a certain profession, for example ‘controlling will’, ‘relationship model’. 5. Some readers might wonder whether the collective identity as a member of ‘the internet celebrity community’ can be deemed professional. In this study our answer is yes, because, as illustrated by the relevant examples, G’s membership of the internet celebrity community is based on his expertise as a nutritionist. 6. It is necessary to point out that although genre and style are intricately related, for the sake of clarity, I here discuss their separate relations to identity construction.

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