Counter-argumentation and modality
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Vincenzo Lo Cascio
Abstract
Argumentative texts are essentially “modal texts”. They respond to the need of an encoder and/or addressee about stating the degree of truth and certainty with respect to some claims.In argumentation, every statement which is presented as a claim always needs an overt or non-overt argument which assures the addressee about the degree of certainty of that statement. The argument supporting a conclusion has the task of stating whether the implicit or triggered claim is true or false.The modal information is delivered by obligatory or optional argumentative categories.Optional counter-argumentative categories introduced by complementizers like although, nevertheless, at least, unless etc., function as super-modal operators questioning the truth-value of a given argumentation. The article is based on Lo Cascio’ s book 2009 and on Lo Cascio’s article 1995 on argumentation and modality.
Abstract
Argumentative texts are essentially “modal texts”. They respond to the need of an encoder and/or addressee about stating the degree of truth and certainty with respect to some claims.In argumentation, every statement which is presented as a claim always needs an overt or non-overt argument which assures the addressee about the degree of certainty of that statement. The argument supporting a conclusion has the task of stating whether the implicit or triggered claim is true or false.The modal information is delivered by obligatory or optional argumentative categories.Optional counter-argumentative categories introduced by complementizers like although, nevertheless, at least, unless etc., function as super-modal operators questioning the truth-value of a given argumentation. The article is based on Lo Cascio’ s book 2009 and on Lo Cascio’s article 1995 on argumentation and modality.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Preface ix
- Introduction 1
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Certainty
- Certainty 29
- Modes of modality in an Un-Cartesian framework 47
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(Un)Certainty as attitudinality
- Counter-argumentation and modality 65
- Explanation as a certainty marker in persuasive dialogue 83
- How to deal with attitude strength in debating situations. A survey on forewarning, argument strength, repetition, and source credibility as mediators of uncertainty 97
- The role of subjective certainty in the epistemology of testimony 121
- Uncertainty in polar questions and certainty in answers? 135
- Lying as a scalar phenomenon 153
- Persuasion pragmatic strategies in L1/L2 Italian argument-ative speech 175
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Dialogical exchange and speech acts
- What do I know as yet? 185
- On polar questions, negation, and the syntactic encoding of epistemicity 199
- Epistemic uncertainty and the syntax of speech acts 217
- Discursive functions of evidentials and epistemic modals 239
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Onomasiology
- Vagueness, unspecificity, and approximation. Cognitive and lexical aspects in English, Swedish, and Italian 265
- Latin commitment-markers 285
- Italian come se “as if” 297
-
Applications in exegesis and religious discourse
- The communication of certainty/uncertainty within a Gospel passage (John 9:1-41) 327
- Rhetorics of (un)certainty in religious discourse 343
- Subject index 363
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Preface ix
- Introduction 1
-
Certainty
- Certainty 29
- Modes of modality in an Un-Cartesian framework 47
-
(Un)Certainty as attitudinality
- Counter-argumentation and modality 65
- Explanation as a certainty marker in persuasive dialogue 83
- How to deal with attitude strength in debating situations. A survey on forewarning, argument strength, repetition, and source credibility as mediators of uncertainty 97
- The role of subjective certainty in the epistemology of testimony 121
- Uncertainty in polar questions and certainty in answers? 135
- Lying as a scalar phenomenon 153
- Persuasion pragmatic strategies in L1/L2 Italian argument-ative speech 175
-
Dialogical exchange and speech acts
- What do I know as yet? 185
- On polar questions, negation, and the syntactic encoding of epistemicity 199
- Epistemic uncertainty and the syntax of speech acts 217
- Discursive functions of evidentials and epistemic modals 239
-
Onomasiology
- Vagueness, unspecificity, and approximation. Cognitive and lexical aspects in English, Swedish, and Italian 265
- Latin commitment-markers 285
- Italian come se “as if” 297
-
Applications in exegesis and religious discourse
- The communication of certainty/uncertainty within a Gospel passage (John 9:1-41) 327
- Rhetorics of (un)certainty in religious discourse 343
- Subject index 363
