Argumentation and the “New Oratory”: the staging of the speaker in investor pitches in English
This article tackles argumentation via the angle of speaker ethos. Identified by Aristotle as one of the three types of argument alongside logos and pathos, ethos can be attributed a more prominent role according to the more holistic approach adopted here. In keeping with contemporary discourse anal...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Presses Universitaires du Midi
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Anglophonia |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/anglophonia/3123 |
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| Summary: | This article tackles argumentation via the angle of speaker ethos. Identified by Aristotle as one of the three types of argument alongside logos and pathos, ethos can be attributed a more prominent role according to the more holistic approach adopted here. In keeping with contemporary discourse analysis theory and enunciative pragmatics, ethos is analysed in terms of the staging of the speaker and the positioning of participants, and hence as a cornerstone of the process of enunciation. Moreover, ethos is central to the patterning of discursive genres, particularly in the contemporary landscape, as illustrated by a new set of spoken discursive practices borne out of the digital era, grouped together under the title “the New Oratory” (Rossette-Crake 2019). The New Oratory marks a renewal of public speaking via formats that are typically uploaded to the Internet and place the focus on the “digital speaker”. This study analyses the generic ethos of the New Oratory as a “personal” and “authentic” staging of the speaker, which is both informed by and informs the digital economy and current workplace. The various ways in which the personal and authentic dimensions are enacted within the linguistic interface, and within other more general discursive levels (for example scenography, body language), are examined within examples taken from one specific New Oratory genre, the investor pitch. This investigation applies a number of theoretical concepts from the fields of discourse analysis (both the French and Anglo-American traditions), French enunciative pragmatics, and systemic functional linguistics. It hopes to provide a convincing example of how linguists working in the French context on English-language phenomena (“linguistes anglicistes”) can productively engage simultaneously with several theoretical frameworks in order to shed light on discourse practice in the contemporary context. |
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| ISSN: | 1278-3331 2427-0466 |