INÉS OLZA,ÓSCAR LOUREDA &MANUEL CASADO-VELARDE Preface In 2010 a project entitled Public Discourse: Persuasive and Interpretative Strategies started out at the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) of the University of Navarra (Spain). A new research group GRADUN, originally made up of researchers in the University of Navarra, the University of Heidelberg (Germany), Laval University (Canada) and the Centre for Human and Social Sciences of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) arose around this project. From its beginnings, GRADUN has been an interdisciplinary research group with Linguistics at its initial core, and integrating researchers from other disciplines such as Theory of Literature, Philosophy, Anthropology and Communication Sciences, as well as the intrinsically interdisciplinary field of Pragmatics. Understanding the complex issues and problems that concern our current society requires this cooperative approach to academic endeavour. Moreover, one of the main aims of GRADUN s research is to analyse burning social issues, in order to reach a deeper understanding of controversial topics and propose solutions whenever possible. In fact, the label public discourse necessarily implies the involvement of several research areas working together on issues and debates with social impact. The title of this book Language Use in the Public Sphere: Methodological Perspectives and Empirical Applications, edited by GRADUN points to two research avenues (the quest for interdisciplinary methodologies in discourse analysis and the application of these methodologies to case studies of social impact), which serve to articulate the volume in two different but complementary sections. The first part ( Tradition and Innovation in the Methodology of Discourse Studies ) includes chapters (by Albaladejo; Loureda; Portolés & Yates; Verschueren and Vigo) that analyse and evaluate the results of using the main methodologies current in discourse studies (rhetoric, text linguistics, theory of argumentation, pragmatics).
10 Inés Olza, Óscar Loureda and Manuel Casado-Velarde In the chapter Rhetoric and Discourse Analysis, Tomás Albaladejo examines the role of rhetoric in discourse analysis and the tools rhetoric may contribute to the task and strategies of analysing discourses. In particular, polyacroasis the plurality of listening and interpreting discourses is presented as the basis for one of the links between rhetoric and discourse analysis. Several trends in the reconsideration of rhetoric for the purposes of discourse analysis are discussed, with a specific focus on the following: new perspectives on elocutio; the relationship between rhetoric and translation studies; and the proposal of a rhetoric of culture. In New Perspectives in Text Analysis: Introducing an Integrated Model of Text Linguistics, Óscar Loureda provides an overview of current research in text analysis and (in line with GRADUN s objectives) proposes a comprehensive model of text linguistics that is both integral and homogenous. In the chapter The Theory of Argumentation within Language and its Application to Discourse Analysis, José Portolés and Jean Yates focus on how, according to the Theory of Argumentation Within Language (TAL), the meaning of words conditions the dynamics of discourse. Their study provides several examples of the explicative ability of TAL within discourse studies and presents a final case study that examines from the TAL perspective persuasive linguistic arguments that support certain proposals made by the defenders of person first language. Jef Verschueren aims to explore in his chapter ( The Pragmatics of Discourse in the Public Sphere ) the contribution of pragmatics to the study of meaning generation in discourse in the public sphere. This exploration is grounded on several pragmatic principles, namely the lack of strict form-function relationships that can be applied mechanically to interpret discourse; the intimate connection between structure and context; and the important role of reflexivity or metapragmatic awareness in all forms of language use. Lastly, Alejandro G. Vigo ( Discourse, Coherence, Truth ) analyses the change in paradigm that 20th century philosophical reflection has undergone, which can be characterized by reference to what have been called two successive turns : first, the linguistic turn and, later, the pragmatic-hermeneutic turn. By attending to these turns, one can better explain the manner in which the notion of
Preface 11 discourse enters contemporary philosophical reflection and the decisive protagonism that it acquires. The first part of this volume includes other chapters (Casado- Velarde; Flamarique; Harslem & Berty; López Pan) of theoretical nature, which approach different conditions of production of discourse (Casado; López Pan) and relevant mechanisms in the construction of discursive meaning (Flamarique; Harslem & Berty). In Trust and Suspicion as Principles of Discourse Analysis, Manuel Casado-Velarde discusses influential perspectives on language and discourse in the modern era (in Nietzsche, analytic philosophy, Wittgenstein, Ogden and Richards, etc.) focusing on the underlying epistemological attitude of suspicion. Coseriu s critique of the polar-opposite attitudes of overconfidence (logicism) and excessive suspicion (antilogicism) with respect to language is analysed. The conclusion comprises an overview of various contemporary formulations of a general principle of trust, referred to variously by renowned scholars as the cooperative principle (Grice), the principle of trust (Coseriu), and the principle of relevance (Sperber and Wilson). Lourdes Flamarique, in Metaphor and Argumentative Logic a Crossroads between Philosophy and the Language Sciences, examines, among other aspects, the turn towards metaphor in contemporary philosophy, which may be explained in part by reference to the crisis in philosophical thinking and the assertion that metaphysics has been superseded. From this perspective, metaphor is now studied from a subjective perspective, which may be less predictable than the objective-literal meaning that mirrors a preexisting similarity In A ver, what do we have here? Bueno, it s no piece of cake. The Challenge of Translating Conversational Discourse Markers, Frank J. Harslem and Katrin Berty reflect on translation processes, which as initial premise can be regarded as a specific type of discourse or text analysis that relies partly on information provided by mono- and bilingual dictionaries. In this context the translator is confronted with particles that not only guide every natural discourse or text but are also highly specific in each language and culture, as is the case with conversational discourse markers. In order to illustrate the difficulty of translating this kind of marker, Harslem and Berty analyse their occurrence in original texts and their respective translations, and compare the translator s solutions with the lexicographical entries.
12 Inés Olza, Óscar Loureda and Manuel Casado-Velarde In The Epideictic Nature of Prestige Newspapers, Fernando López Pan explores the link between prestige newspapers and the classical rhetorical category of epideixis, and shows how the epideictic dimension is a basic one in such newspapers. More specifically, this study describes the epideictic nature of argumentation used in the newspaper as a whole, highlighting the conceptualization of the structure of argumentation throughout the newspaper. As we pointed out before, GRADUN also aims to analyse relevant problems and issues debated in the public sphere. The second part of the book ( Empirical Applications: Public Discourse over the Presence of Religious Symbols in Public Spaces ) thus brings together a series of chapters that address the debate on the presence of religious symbols in public spaces, which flared up with particular intensity especially across Europe between 2009 and 2010. These chapters focus on the debate that took place in several countries (Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Italy and United Kingdom) and exemplify how it may be fruitfully analysed from different methodological perspectives (Linguistics, Argumentation Studies, Communication Studies, Ethics, Law and Philosophy). In the chapter Reporting Public Manifestations of Religious Beliefs: Sikhs, Muslims and Christians in the British Press, Ruth Breeze examines British newspaper reporting on the wearing of specific items of dress or accessories which appear to come into conflict with safety regulations or social expectations. Breeze conducts an indepth analysis of one hundred British news and opinion articles about the wearing of symbolic items by members of three different religions (Sikhs, Muslims and Christians). The study adopts a multidimensional approach that examines issue framing, explicit evaluation of the main actors in the reported situations, and lexical items and metaphors in the text associated with the different parties and with the banning of religious symbols. The aim of the study The Debate about the Veil in the Spanish Press: Boosting Strategies and Interactional Metadiscourse in the Editorials of ABC and El País (2002 2010), by Ramón González Ruiz and Dámaso Izquierdo Alegría, is to reveal the main discursive strategies shaping Spanish newspaper ideologies in relation to the debate on the Islamic veil (2002 2010). To this end, editorials published by two major national newspapers in Spain that reflect clashing ideologies