Ruth Amossy on “The place of argumentative schemas in Discourse analysis”

Is the analysis of an argumentative schema underlying an utterance compatible with Discourse analysis? At first sight, there seems to be a tension between the need to construct abstract models and the need to examine the use of language in context. My contention is however that such an argumentative analysis is necessary to understand how verbal exchanges work and what is the logic that governs them. A first step consists of using models provided by argumentation theories to extract an abstract schema from the discourse, thus uncovering its specific reasoning. A complementary operation immerses the schema back in the discursive materiality to examine it in context, in its enunciative framework and in the dynamic of the interaction. The analysis can thus go beyond the level of abstract reasonings; it brings out the meanings constructed in the explicit and implicit layers of the discourse, disclosing underlying objectives and hidden power games. This argumentative and discursive approach is exemplified in brief passages borrowed from French novels.

Ruth Amossy, Tel-Aviv University, ADARR

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This event is part of the ArgLab Research Colloquium organised by Maria Grazia Rossi, Andrés Soria Ruiz and Nuno Venturinha at the Laboratory of Reasoning and Argumentation of the Nova Institute of Philosophy. For any inquiries, please contact Maria Grazia, Andrés, or Nuno.