… every time you’ve offered an opinion, you’ve been wrong
-
Bledar Toska
Abstract
This paper describes the function of some important metadiscoursal devices such as hedges, boosters, attitude markers and transition markers in Obama’s discourse in the last 2012 presidential debate. Given their relatively high frequency in his political discourse, I expect that these devices are used as productive resources to help the speaker build an effective personal ethos in the dialogical interaction with the electorate, an initial hypothesis already confirmed in the indicative bottom-up analysis part of this article. Also, the argumentative nature of Obama’s discourse gives even more prominence to the use of such metadiscoursal devices to strategically communicate with the electorate and to create the intended rhetorical effects on it for persuasive ends.
Abstract
This paper describes the function of some important metadiscoursal devices such as hedges, boosters, attitude markers and transition markers in Obama’s discourse in the last 2012 presidential debate. Given their relatively high frequency in his political discourse, I expect that these devices are used as productive resources to help the speaker build an effective personal ethos in the dialogical interaction with the electorate, an initial hypothesis already confirmed in the indicative bottom-up analysis part of this article. Also, the argumentative nature of Obama’s discourse gives even more prominence to the use of such metadiscoursal devices to strategically communicate with the electorate and to create the intended rhetorical effects on it for persuasive ends.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
-
Persuasion in Political Dialogue
- Persuasion or the integration of grammar and rhetoric 3
- The burden of proof in dealing with political accountability 19
- Pre-election TV debates – persuasive games between ethos, logos, and pathos 39
- … every time you’ve offered an opinion, you’ve been wrong 55
- Political debates 85
- Analysing the rhetoric use of the epistemic marker Eu cred că (I think) in Romanian parliamentary discourse 101
-
Persuasive Strategies in Professional Dialogue
- Argumentation at work 145
- Argumentation strategies in mediated professional interactions 161
- Using identities-in-talk as a persuasive strategy 179
- Markers of argumentation in intercultural professional discourse 201
- Leaders banking on ethos 217
- Persuading through narratives 249
- Index 275
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
-
Persuasion in Political Dialogue
- Persuasion or the integration of grammar and rhetoric 3
- The burden of proof in dealing with political accountability 19
- Pre-election TV debates – persuasive games between ethos, logos, and pathos 39
- … every time you’ve offered an opinion, you’ve been wrong 55
- Political debates 85
- Analysing the rhetoric use of the epistemic marker Eu cred că (I think) in Romanian parliamentary discourse 101
-
Persuasive Strategies in Professional Dialogue
- Argumentation at work 145
- Argumentation strategies in mediated professional interactions 161
- Using identities-in-talk as a persuasive strategy 179
- Markers of argumentation in intercultural professional discourse 201
- Leaders banking on ethos 217
- Persuading through narratives 249
- Index 275
