Multilingualism and institutional communication in the health sector: the case of South Tyrol

The present paper is intended as a first contribution to the study of bilingual healthcare communication in South Tyrol. The analysis will focus on the website of the Azienda Sanitaria dell’Alto Adige / Südtiroler Sanitätsbetrieb, an Internet portal providing information on seven hospitals, and in particular on the texts which appear to be most directly relevant to patients . The aim of the study is to investigate the reciprocal influences between Italian and German in these texts and to determine whether the findings support the hypothesis of a specific “communicative identity” of South Tyrol in the health sector. Following Riedmann’s description (1972) of the South Tyrolean “linguistic peculiarities”, the study will mainly deal with lexical and morphosyntactic aspects; however, attention will be paid also to possible influences on the pragmatic level. The analysis will be preceded by a brief sketch of the historical background to the present situation of multilingualism in South Tyrol, as well as of the main linguistic studies concerning this area; moreover, some observations will be made on multilingual communication in the health sector and on its social relevance. In the concluding section, some proposals as to future research in this field will be put forward, with the final goal of drafting some suggestions to improve institutional communication between hospitals and patients.