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Article published In:
Journal of Argumentation in Context
Vol. 5:2 (2016) ► pp.113–138

Corpus linguistics and argumentation

Retrieving argumentative patterns in UK prime ministerial debates

| Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”

This paper explores the viability of a synergy between corpus linguistics and the study of argumentation in context. While quantitative approaches to the study of discourse have been profitably integrated at the levels of lexico-grammar and syntax, more rarely has this been the case for higher levels of analysis such as argumentative structures. Such an approach would help identify those recurring patterns of argumentation that build up cumulatively, and which can only be identified in larger samples of discourse. In particular this paper concerns how the tools of corpus linguistics can be put to use for the analysis of strategic manoeuvring, and especially topical selection. In order to do so, the televised prime ministerial debates held on the occasion of the 2010 general election in the UK will be taken as a case study, with a focus on the use of linguistic indicators that might help retrieve argumentative patterns.

Keywords: Prime ministerial debates, political discourse, topical selection, UK general elections, discourse analysis, indicators of argumentation, corpus linguistics, leaders' debates
Published online: 20 October 2016
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jaic.5.2.01deg
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