The ideological implications of the use of imperatives in pharmaceutical leaflets

Abstract

This study investigates the ideological implications underlying the nature and use of imperatives in pharmaceutical leaflets (PLs). Drawing on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as a methodological framework and ideological discourse analysis as a theoretical anchor, the study analyses five pharmaceutical leaflets sampled from both Ghanaian and international pharmaceutical companies. The problem motivating this inquiry is the discrepancy between the communicative purpose of the printed text and the ideological implications of imperatives to the readers. Thus, it a legal requirement that PLs be written clearly and accessibly for lay users, unexamined ideological functions that imperative constructions serve beyond mere information delivery. Positive Complex Imperative (PCI), Positive Simple Imperative (PSI), Negative Complex Imperative (NCI), and Negative Simple Imperative (NSI) with NCIs being the most frequent (48%). Pharmaceutical companies deploy imperatives to exercise institutional authority, issue directives, warn and prohibit users, and strategically manage epistemic uncertainty through modal auxiliaries such as should, may, can, and must. The study concludes that imperative discourse in PLs is not ideologically neutral; it is a site where pharmaceutical power is enacted, reproduced, and naturalised. Pedagogical and regulatory implications are discussed.

Keywords: Pharmaceutical leaflets, imperatives, critical discourse analysis, ideology, power, modal auxiliaries.

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