Page 184 - Gabrijela Kišiček and Igor Ž. Žagar (eds.), What do we know about the world? Rhetorical and argumentative perspectives, Digital Library, Educational Research Institute, Ljubljana 2013
P. 184
What Do We Know about the World?
Based on previous research on a similar topic (Sahlane, 2012), we as-
sumed that appeals to emotion, especially the appeal to fear (argumen-
tum ad metum) and pity (ad misericordiam) – would be frequent. John-
son (2000) has emphasized that in order to be effective, the rhetoric used
in mass media needs to take human emotions, in particular fear and
pity, into account. O`Keefe (1996) mentions these in relation to persua-
sion short cuts.
Appeals to fear and pity work as persuasive arguments using the
dual process model of persuasion. “According to this model there are two
routes of persuasion, a central and peripheral route. The central route re-
quires an elaboration of the rational argumentation in the mass of evi-
dence in a case. But appeals to fear and pity offer a short cut to a mass au-
dience by suggesting a peripheral route.” (cited after Walton, 2007: 128)
Put generally, we assumed that ethos and pathos will be dominant
modes of persuasion. Here, pathos is broadly defined in the Aristotelian
tradition as a means of “creating a certain disposition in the audience”
(1991: 301) and, while common in forensic oratory, it is “also at home in
deliberative oratory” (Carey, 1996: 405). According to Aristotelian schol-
arship, as a means of persuasion ethos is more common in deliberative or-
atory, since a credible and trustworthy character of a politician is impor-
tant in persuading an audience, and thus in creating a public opinion.
The combination of CDA, rhetorical argumentation analysis and
persuasion techniques – or so we assumed – yields a more complete pic-
ture of that part of Croatian political discourse that deals with the ques-
tion of EU membership.
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Critical Discourse Analysis (Lexico-Grammatical Analysis
and Figures of Speech)
Critical Discourse Analysis distinguishes among the experiential,
the relational and the expressive value of words. For the purpose of this
research, the most interesting and important were the expressive values
of words because, as Fairclough (1989: 119) puts it: “[T]hey are always
the central concern for those interested in persuasive language.” Since
differences between Europhobes and Europhiles are, at least in part,
ideological, the expressive value is important insofar as “differences be-
tween discourse types in the expressive values of words are again ideo-
logically significant” (1989: 119).
Based on previous research on a similar topic (Sahlane, 2012), we as-
sumed that appeals to emotion, especially the appeal to fear (argumen-
tum ad metum) and pity (ad misericordiam) – would be frequent. John-
son (2000) has emphasized that in order to be effective, the rhetoric used
in mass media needs to take human emotions, in particular fear and
pity, into account. O`Keefe (1996) mentions these in relation to persua-
sion short cuts.
Appeals to fear and pity work as persuasive arguments using the
dual process model of persuasion. “According to this model there are two
routes of persuasion, a central and peripheral route. The central route re-
quires an elaboration of the rational argumentation in the mass of evi-
dence in a case. But appeals to fear and pity offer a short cut to a mass au-
dience by suggesting a peripheral route.” (cited after Walton, 2007: 128)
Put generally, we assumed that ethos and pathos will be dominant
modes of persuasion. Here, pathos is broadly defined in the Aristotelian
tradition as a means of “creating a certain disposition in the audience”
(1991: 301) and, while common in forensic oratory, it is “also at home in
deliberative oratory” (Carey, 1996: 405). According to Aristotelian schol-
arship, as a means of persuasion ethos is more common in deliberative or-
atory, since a credible and trustworthy character of a politician is impor-
tant in persuading an audience, and thus in creating a public opinion.
The combination of CDA, rhetorical argumentation analysis and
persuasion techniques – or so we assumed – yields a more complete pic-
ture of that part of Croatian political discourse that deals with the ques-
tion of EU membership.
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Critical Discourse Analysis (Lexico-Grammatical Analysis
and Figures of Speech)
Critical Discourse Analysis distinguishes among the experiential,
the relational and the expressive value of words. For the purpose of this
research, the most interesting and important were the expressive values
of words because, as Fairclough (1989: 119) puts it: “[T]hey are always
the central concern for those interested in persuasive language.” Since
differences between Europhobes and Europhiles are, at least in part,
ideological, the expressive value is important insofar as “differences be-
tween discourse types in the expressive values of words are again ideo-
logically significant” (1989: 119).
