Page 17 - Žagar, Igor Ž. 2021. Four Critical Essays on Argumentation. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 17
topoi in critical discourse analysis
more topoi can be added to the list. And, presumably, if topoi can be add-
ed to the list, they can probably also be deleted from the list. Unfortunately,
in the publications I have listed, we get no epistemological or methodologi-
cal criteria as to how this is done, i.e. why, when, and how certain topoi can
be added to the list, or why, when, and how they can be taken off the list.5 It
also remains a mistery how some parts of discourse (can) gain the status of
topoi, or what exactly is meant by some parts of discourse gaining the sta-
tus of topoi.
The most puzzling list of topoi can be found in Krzyzanowski (2009:
103). In this article we get the ‘list of the topoi identified in the respective
corpora’ (the national and the European ones—IŽŽ). They are:6
Topoi in the national corpus
1. Topos of national uniqueness
2. Topos of definition of the national role
3. Topos of national history
4. Topos of East and West
5. Topos of past and future
6. Modernisation topos
7. Topos of the EU as a national necessity
8. Topos of the EU as a national test
9. Topos of the organic work
10. Topos of Polish pragmatism and Euro-realism.
Topoi in the European corpus
Topos of diversity in Europe
Topos of European history and heritage
Topos of European values
Topos of European unity
Topos of Europe of various speeds
5 Let alone the fact that there is no theoretical explanation why there should be lists
at all, or how we should proceed when checking the possible argument schemes
‘against the background of the list of topoi’.
6 These lists may look like recipes, as Wodak once commented, but this is the way the
authors present them.
17
more topoi can be added to the list. And, presumably, if topoi can be add-
ed to the list, they can probably also be deleted from the list. Unfortunately,
in the publications I have listed, we get no epistemological or methodologi-
cal criteria as to how this is done, i.e. why, when, and how certain topoi can
be added to the list, or why, when, and how they can be taken off the list.5 It
also remains a mistery how some parts of discourse (can) gain the status of
topoi, or what exactly is meant by some parts of discourse gaining the sta-
tus of topoi.
The most puzzling list of topoi can be found in Krzyzanowski (2009:
103). In this article we get the ‘list of the topoi identified in the respective
corpora’ (the national and the European ones—IŽŽ). They are:6
Topoi in the national corpus
1. Topos of national uniqueness
2. Topos of definition of the national role
3. Topos of national history
4. Topos of East and West
5. Topos of past and future
6. Modernisation topos
7. Topos of the EU as a national necessity
8. Topos of the EU as a national test
9. Topos of the organic work
10. Topos of Polish pragmatism and Euro-realism.
Topoi in the European corpus
Topos of diversity in Europe
Topos of European history and heritage
Topos of European values
Topos of European unity
Topos of Europe of various speeds
5 Let alone the fact that there is no theoretical explanation why there should be lists
at all, or how we should proceed when checking the possible argument schemes
‘against the background of the list of topoi’.
6 These lists may look like recipes, as Wodak once commented, but this is the way the
authors present them.
17
