Argumentative Discourse

Blending theory and practice, this book outlines the central role that strategic maneuvering and argumentative style play in argumentative discourse. Strategic maneuvering refers to the functional connection that arguers create between aiming for effectiveness and maintaining reasonableness, which they pursue simultaneously in argumentative discourse. Argumentative style is the specific argumentative shape arguers give to their strategic maneuvering.

Enabling students to understand how they can successfully prepare oral and written argumentative discourse, this book provides a pragma-dialectical approach to argumentation. It demonstrates what is involved in approaching argumentative discourse from the perspective of strategic maneuvering and allows students to put their skills and knowledge into practice through end-of-chapter exercises. It also provides readers with a set of rules for choosing between reasonable and fallacious argumentative moves and a series of recommendations for selecting argumentative styles.

Written by leading experts, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Argumentation, Communication Studies, Linguistics, Philosophy, and Law.