A Pragmatic Study On Argumentation

This thesis elaborates on the speech act of argumentation from a pragmatic perspective. In the communication, argumentation always relates to a particular opinion, or standpoint, which can be about all kinds of subjects, varying from economics, psychology, and politics to entertainment, education and law. They can be expressed not only by affirmative or negative statements, but also by personal judgments, and even by questions and imperatives.All over the world, argumentation is studied by scholars from various disciplinary backgrounds. Some approach argumentation philosophically, generally adopting a normative perspective;some approach argumentation rhetorically, usually with the purpose of analyzing argumentation practices. In China, there exists a strong tradition of argumentation in China, which can be traced back to Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and other philosophies and religions. Dominant modes of argumentation used in this rhetoric tradition are arguments from authority, from analogy, by example, and so on. And the study is a pragmatic analysis on argumentation, and we try to answer the following questions: 1)What is the feature of argumentation from a pragmatic perspective? 2) How does an arguer make linguistic and communicative choices as adaptation to a specific context? 3) What are appropriate strategies to be used in Chinese argumentation? Argumentation in our work is defined as a verbal, social, and rational activity aimed at convincing a reasonable critic of the acceptability of a standpoint by putting forward a constellation of propositions justifying or refuting the proposition expressed in the standpoint.Methodologically speaking, the study mainly belongs to a qualitative study based on the data collected from recordings of TV programs of Phoenix TV station, which is located in Hong Kong. It is both data-driven and theory-driven. Without any present hypotheses proposed in advance, thewhole investigation begins with the collection of data, and then analyzes them. After doing these, we carry out a careful observation, seek the reasons behind this special linguistic behavior, and then trace the contextual influence on argumentation to generalize the communicative strategies of argumentation. The theoretical framework of the present study is constructed on the basis of Jef Verschueren's (1999) Linguistic Adaptation Theory. The present study concentrates on the adaptability of argumentation.Moreover, the present study demonstrates that how the arguer makes choices at various levels, especially the communicative strategies. When we research on speech acts, one of important aspects is studying the human's communicative competence and language use. Thus research of the speech act is to contribute to the understanding of human's linguistic performance and its corresponding strategic use. We expect to analyze argumentative competence, which requires being properly dealt with all these argumentative situations and uses all the necessary skills different from other competencies in a variety of ways. All the choices indicate that the arguer needs to adapt to the mental world, the social world and/or the physical world, if he/she wants to make perfect argumentation. In the present study, we hold the view that the communicative strategies of argumentation should include two factors: one is the argumentative goal, which is the main power to promote a person to engage in interaction positively. Argumentation is a goal-oriented verbal communication, therefore, when we choose strategies we need to adapt to our mental motivations;the other one is context. We should pay much attention to contextual condition when we describe argumentation. If the contextual condition for a particular speech act is not met, then there is simply no speech act, no matter what is said or written (Mey, 2001:126). Moreover, argumentation is a way of using language socially, and of 'doing things with words' together with other persons. Thus arguers who want to achieve their communicative goals should choose various communicative strategies in different contexts.The present investigation finds out that the arguer intends to usedifferent strategies in order to adapt to the mental world, the social world and/ or the physical world. And we categorize the communicative strategies into strengthening strategies and mitigating strategies.The present study contributes to the study of argumentation, and sheds light on the argumentation research from a pragmatic perspective in Chinese culture and may help people use appropriate ways to express their reasonable evidences, supporting their standpoint in a harmonious environment.