Search results for "Rhetoric"
showing 10 items of 489 documents
Mitigation revisited. An operative and integrated definition of the pragmatic concept, its strategic values, and its linguistic expression
2021
Abstract This paper provides a definition of mitigation based on three interconnected dimensions: cognitive, rhetorical/social, and linguistic. According to the definition provided, some specific requirements from all three dimensions must be met for a linguistic expression to be considered an instance of pragmatic mitigation (self-image protection, communicative effectiveness and some specific semantic-pragmatic characteristics mainly related with Levinson's (2000) M-heuristics, respectively). The definition builds on previous contributions and considers important descriptive problems, such as the heterogeneity of the linguistic mechanisms used to express mitigation and the partiality or i…
Verb inflection in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit and auxiliation patterns in French and Italian. Forms, functions, system
2009
This paper deals with the complex interaction between form and function in the verb morphosyntax of four Indo-European languages (French, Italian, Ancient Greek and Sanskrit). Beyond the difference in form, auxiliation patterns in French and Italian, and verb inflections in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit correlate, thanks to the agreement for number and person, to the expression of the relationship with the Subject. The different auxiliation patterns (sum and habeo) and the different inflections (middle and active) correlate to different properties of the Subject. In particular, these forms depend on the syntactic opposition between middle and non-middle. The ways of this dependency are regulat…
A dialectal reading of the History of Translation
2013
La traducción de variedades dialectales es uno de los retos más difíciles y a la vez interesantes que enfrentan los traductores literarios. Si bien los aportes teóricos acerca de la traducción dialectal surgen principalmente a partir de 1960, el presente artículo propone una lectura histórica de la traductología desde la antigüedad hasta la primera mitad del siglo XX indagando acerca de las “implicaciones” que los grandes hitos traductológicos hubieran podido tener para la traducción de dialectos. Ya que los textos dialectales se conciben dentro de una jerarquización política de la lengua, se propone un paralelismo entre ‘dialecto-estándar’ y ‘lengua vernácula-lengua dominante’. Se rastrea …
Redescribing the Nation : Anti-Semitism as a tool of nation-building in the Hungarian Numerus Clausus debates, 1920-1928
2018
Abstract Boosting national spirit through projection of otherness is not a new phenomenon, at least in authoritarian regimes. Yet the role of anti-Semitism in the Numerus Clausus debates in the Hungarian parliament in 1920 and 1928 is worth deeper analysis, as it bore a peculiar role in the Hungarian interwar counterrevolutionary nation-building. The Numerus Clausus law of 1920 set ethnic quotas to university enrolment; the explicit argument for this was countering the Jewish ‘over-representation’ in Hungarian society. However, in 1928 the law was amended, abolishing (in principle) the said quotas; this time the arguments favoured national consolidation, where segregation was to be moderate…
Análisis y revisión del sarcasmo y la lítote: propuesta desde la Teoría de la Relevancia
2009
Overall, sarcasm and litote have been considered rhetorical fi gures and, therefore, dislocated uses of language. Classical studies accept the existence of two different languages: the literal one and the fi gurative one, whereas more recent theoretical frameworks, such as Relevance Theory, disagree with this standpoint. In that sense, this paper attempts to revisit some classical considerations from the perspective of Relevance Theory; one signifi cant conclusion will be that there is only one language with different uses guided by communicative relevance.
De nuevo sobre la intensificación pragmática : revisión y propuesta
2021
Este artículo presenta una propuesta de caracterización de la intensificación desde una perspectiva pragmática con el objetivo de contribuir al establecimiento de una definición completa, delimitada y unitaria del fenómeno, que permita reconocer y discriminar los usos intensificaciones de otras categorías cercanas. Para ello, se revisan las principales aportaciones previas al estudio del fenómeno: desde las más extendidas, de carácter gramatical y semántico, a las más recientes de naturaleza pragmática.
 Se propone, por un lado, una explicación cognitiva y metarrepresentacional que define la intensificación como el intento lingüístico de un hablante por modificar los supuestos que le a…
Letters to the editor: Still vigorous after all these years?
2006
Abstract This paper investigates Letters to the Editor, a section in biomedical journals used by scientists since the early 19th century to question already validated research. The aim of this study is to highlight some of the discursive strategies and to bring to the fore the linguistic characteristics of this particular genre, to analyze its goal, role and use within a community of French researchers. It is based on a corpus of 200 letters selected from two scientific journals in the fields of biology and medicine: The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and The Lancet published between 1999 and 2002. The strategy of questioning is analyzed as an explicit and implicit mode of criticism…
Positive self-evaluation versus negative other-evaluation in the political genre of pre-election debates.
2014
The present study explores the language of evaluation in a sub-genre of political discourse, pre-electoral debates, and its potential persuasive function for gaining voters via a contraposition of positive self-evaluation and negative evaluation of the other candidate. A further aim of this research is to check whether the candidate’s ideology has a bearing on the entities that get evaluated. After a brief examination of the characteristics of the sub-genre at hand, specifically in the Spanish context, we present the results of an evaluation analysis carried out in a corpus of 19,849 words, which is the extension of the most recent pre-electoral debate held in Spain between the candidates …
Rhetoric as Philosophy of Language. An Aristotelian Perspective
2017
This paper sustains that rhetoric can be a fruitful way of practicing philosophy of language. The startingpoint is a suggestion drawn from the work of the Italian philosopher Roberto Esposito. According toEsposito, one of the main characteristics of the Italian thought is the focus on the necessary connectionbetween language and extra-linguistic world. I argue that rhetoric (intended in an Aristotelian sense), thanks to its extra-linguistic aim (persuasion), pays particular attention to this connection. This has important consequences: 1. considering speakers and listeners as essential components of speech and assigning a key position to the listener; 2. including the sphere of emotion in t…
“Nature needs you”: discursive constructions of legitimacy and identification in environmental charity appeals
2022
Abstract This study traces how discursive constructions of legitimacy and identification are enacted textually and visually with respect to environment-oriented causes, such as landscape or species restoration. Such conservation projects actually clash with human economic priorities typical of the Anthropocene. Drawing on models of social trust and assuming the discursive nature of legitimacy and identification, we explore how environmental charity organizations represent their conservation efforts, reproduce sustainability discourses and advocate self-regulatory practices. We use a sample of mission statements and donation appeals by six prominent environmental charities from the UK. Throu…