Functions of texts of instructions for use of medicines

The article is devoted to the problem of studying the texts functioning in the field of special communication, namely - the document texts used in medicine and pharmacy. The relevance of the study is determined by the importance of correct and effective informing the patient, providing him / her with the necessary information at the stage of treatment and prevention of diseases. The material for the study are the texts of instructions on the use of drugs in Russian language. The purpose of the article is to analyze the content and semantic structure of these texts, as well as to identify and describe the communicative and pragmatic functions implemented in them (descriptive, prescriptive, informative, regulatory). The existence of a rigid unified structure of the studied texts with a strictly fixed arrangement of sections and subsections is stated. It is shown that from the point of view of the content-semantic structure, these units can be interpreted as communicative and pragmatic blocks, in which from one to several communicative and pragmatic functions can be implemented. The relationship between communicative and pragmatic functions of the texts of instructions on the use of drugs and the nature of perception and understanding of these texts is revealed. It is concluded that, along with other functions, the regulatory function to the greatest extent reflects the communicative and pragmatic orientation of the studied texts to the addressee who does not have special medical and pharmaceutical knowledge.