TY - JOUR
T1 - How can metaphors communicate arguments?
AU - Macagno, Fabrizio
N1 - UIDB/00183/2020
UIDP/00183/2020
PY - 2020/6
Y1 - 2020/6
N2 - Metaphors are considered as instruments crucial for persuasion. However, while many studies and works have focused on their emotive, communicative, and persuasive effects, the argumentative dimension that represents the core of their "persuasiveness"is almost neglected. This paper addresses the problem of explaining how metaphors can communicate arguments, and how it is possible to reconstruct and justify them. To this purpose, a distinction is drawn between the arguments that are communicated metaphorically and interpreted based on relevance considerations, and the ones that are triggered implicitly by the use of a metaphorical expression. In both cases, metaphorical arguments are reconstructed through different patterns of argument, called argumentation schemes (Walton, Reed and Macagno 2008). However, while the purpose of a metaphorical sequence of discourse (called metaphorical move) can guide and justify the reconstruction of the argument that can sufficiently support the intended conclusion in a persuasive move, a more complex analysis is needed for analyzing the additional inferences that a metaphorical move can trigger. These inferences are claimed to represent part of the connotation of the metaphorical expression and can be captured through its most frequent collocations, determinable using some tools of the corpus linguistics.
AB - Metaphors are considered as instruments crucial for persuasion. However, while many studies and works have focused on their emotive, communicative, and persuasive effects, the argumentative dimension that represents the core of their "persuasiveness"is almost neglected. This paper addresses the problem of explaining how metaphors can communicate arguments, and how it is possible to reconstruct and justify them. To this purpose, a distinction is drawn between the arguments that are communicated metaphorically and interpreted based on relevance considerations, and the ones that are triggered implicitly by the use of a metaphorical expression. In both cases, metaphorical arguments are reconstructed through different patterns of argument, called argumentation schemes (Walton, Reed and Macagno 2008). However, while the purpose of a metaphorical sequence of discourse (called metaphorical move) can guide and justify the reconstruction of the argument that can sufficiently support the intended conclusion in a persuasive move, a more complex analysis is needed for analyzing the additional inferences that a metaphorical move can trigger. These inferences are claimed to represent part of the connotation of the metaphorical expression and can be captured through its most frequent collocations, determinable using some tools of the corpus linguistics.
KW - argumentation
KW - dialogue moves
KW - discourse analysis
KW - interpretation
KW - metaphors
KW - persuasion
UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85091787836&doi=10.1515%2fip-2020-3004&origin=inward&txGid=54b345073ac515dd727445fafe37a4b5
U2 - 10.1515/ip-2020-3004
DO - 10.1515/ip-2020-3004
M3 - Article
SN - 1612-295X
VL - 17
SP - 335
EP - 363
JO - Intercultural Pragmatics
JF - Intercultural Pragmatics
IS - 3
ER -