Designing Arguments

Every day, people seek to influence their own and others' beliefs, attitudes and behaviours through a non-coercive process of communication known as persuasion. This volume explores the discourse of persuasion, integrating Aristotelian rhetoric and contemporary linguistics. Our goal is not to evaluate persuasion messages but to understand how rhetors adaptively employ the resources afforded by language to design arguments in response to audiences and issues. The emphasis throughout is on hands-on learning, as we analyse how arguments are invented, organised and styled, keeping in mind the crucial interplay between text, context and subtext. All seven chapters are interspersed with activities for individual and group work aimed at helping readers customise a portable rhetorical toolkit for analysing persuasion in a linguistically-informed manner.