DISCOURSE AND RHETORIC

The course is one of the interdisciplinary activities of the degree course in Language Sciences, of the course in Comparative International Relations (curricula: Americas and European Union Studies) and of the course in Environmental Humanities. It promotes theoretical knowledge and methodological competence that can be applied to the analysis of texts and textual corpora in different domains. In particular, the course aims to illustrate the principles and the instruments typical of discourse analysis, a multidisciplinary research approach which aims to investigate the tight relationship between discursive practices and societal structures and values.
Drawing on different disciplines, linguistics and rhetoric in the first place, discourse analysis helps to disclose the ideological features and the objectives of texts, emphasising the constitutive role of language in the social context.

Students will acquire the fundamentals of discourse analysis; they will be able to understand the nature of communication processes, focusing in particular on enunciation and persuasion. Rhetorical strategies will be analysed both in the argumentative and in the emotional dimension.
On the basis of the acquired theoretical and methodological competence, students will be able to analyse texts across domains and genres, with a main focus on political communication and green discourse.
The investigation of actual examples will promote a critical attitude, making it possible to single out discursive and persuasive features in texts. This, in its turn, will develop communicative competence to be exploited also in text production.

No specific previous knowledge is required.

The first part of the course will focus on the concepts of text and discourse, and on the fundamentals of rhetoric and pragmatics. Text types and genres will be defined, and the principles of enunciation and dialogism will be illustrated. The main tenets of pragmatics (speech acts, illocutionary forces, cooperative principle, performativity, deixis, implicit meaning) will be examined, together with the textual structures that represent them. Special attention will be devoted to argumentation and to the other components of persuasion (ethos, pathos).
All general concepts will be illustrated with numerous examples, mainly drawn from the domain of political communication, with a special focus on environmental policies.

Rankema, J., and Schubert, C., Introduction to Discourse Studies, John Benjamins (a choice of chapters)
Santulli, F., and Degano, C., Agreement in Argumentation. A Discursive Perspective, Springer (a choice of chapters)
Alexander, R. J., Framing Discourse on the Environment, Routledge (a choice of chapters)
Further readings will be indicated during the lessons, and made available on the moodle web page of the course

Oral exam. Students are required to comment on a text and anlyise some of its linguistic features. They will also answer questions concerning the contents of the course. Both parts of the exam will be assessed. Marks from 18 to 22 correspond to a pass level; from 23 to 26 good; from 27 to 30 cum laude very good/excellent

Conventional lectures; analysis of examples. Students are encouraged to participate to class discussions.

English

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "International cooperation" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development