Abstract

FORTEZA FERNANDEZ, Rafael. Case reports in Medicine and Dentistry: gender morphophysiology . ACIMED [online]. 2006, vol.14, n.1. ISSN 1024-9435.

Based on Systemic Functional Linguistics and Genre Theory, a synchronic study of twenty-eight case reports, written in English, was carried out. Due to their high educative value, case reports always constitute a section to consult in medical and dentistry journals. The study, which was based upon a group of qualitative variables: a) content, form and function; b) situationality; c) textual dynamism and d) patterns of communication, revealed how the social context of production regulates textual moves and the ways they are expressed in the lexico-grammar and the style of scientific discourse. These results demonstrate the importance of the linguistic-communicative and stylistic study for the teaching-learning process of particular textual forms of certain discourse communities..

Keywords : Genre; style; case reports.