Chapter 2. Establishing starting points in Editorials
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Chiara Degano
Abstract
If argumentation has to have a chance of success in solving a difference of opinion, there must be a common ground between the participants, i.e. one or more objects of agreement between the parties, which can be exploited argumentatively. This chapter focuses on how starting points are established in editorials and comments, taking as a case study a corpus of UK newspaper articles on populism in the context of the 2016 referendum on Brexit.
The results suggest that starting points are discursively constructed either with a bona-fide intent of signalling that the receiver should accept a proposition as a starting point, or the non-bona fide purpose of mocking those who would subscribe to a given proposition. In either case, the ratified addressee typically belongs to the writer’s ‘party’, thus confirming editorials as a genre with a strong epideictic component.
Abstract
If argumentation has to have a chance of success in solving a difference of opinion, there must be a common ground between the participants, i.e. one or more objects of agreement between the parties, which can be exploited argumentatively. This chapter focuses on how starting points are established in editorials and comments, taking as a case study a corpus of UK newspaper articles on populism in the context of the 2016 referendum on Brexit.
The results suggest that starting points are discursively constructed either with a bona-fide intent of signalling that the receiver should accept a proposition as a starting point, or the non-bona fide purpose of mocking those who would subscribe to a given proposition. In either case, the ratified addressee typically belongs to the writer’s ‘party’, thus confirming editorials as a genre with a strong epideictic component.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of figures vii
- List of tables ix
- Introduction. Genres and persuasion 1
- Chapter 1. Plural conversations about argumentation 24
- Chapter 2. Establishing starting points in Editorials 46
- Chapter 3. Arguments and framing strategies in Italian public discourse about measures to contrast the Covid-19 pandemic 71
- Chapter 4. Press releases of COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers 92
- Chapter 5. Legitimation in contested industries 111
- Chapter 6. Argumentative style in international adoption dossiers 134
- Chapter 7. Persuasion and critical-theoretical thought 153
- Chapter 8. Argumentation and the “interaction of minds” in text 169
- Chapter 9. Argumentation in scientific discourse 189
- Chapter 10. Teaching to manage implicit linguistic meanings 211
- Chapter 11. Bentham on rhetoric 232
- Chapter 12. Engaging conspiracy theories 248
- Index 265
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of figures vii
- List of tables ix
- Introduction. Genres and persuasion 1
- Chapter 1. Plural conversations about argumentation 24
- Chapter 2. Establishing starting points in Editorials 46
- Chapter 3. Arguments and framing strategies in Italian public discourse about measures to contrast the Covid-19 pandemic 71
- Chapter 4. Press releases of COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers 92
- Chapter 5. Legitimation in contested industries 111
- Chapter 6. Argumentative style in international adoption dossiers 134
- Chapter 7. Persuasion and critical-theoretical thought 153
- Chapter 8. Argumentation and the “interaction of minds” in text 169
- Chapter 9. Argumentation in scientific discourse 189
- Chapter 10. Teaching to manage implicit linguistic meanings 211
- Chapter 11. Bentham on rhetoric 232
- Chapter 12. Engaging conspiracy theories 248
- Index 265
