Showing papers on "Rhetorical question published in 2018"
TL;DR: This research presents a meta-analysis of how six leading investment firms, including Blackstone, Goldman Sachs and BlackRock, acquired and retained external financial resources over a 10-year period by employing various substantive and rhetorical signals to attract and retain external resources.
Abstract: Firms often need to acquire external financial resources to maintain and develop their business. To attract these resources, firms employ various substantive and rhetorical signals, such as publish...
130 citations
TL;DR: The authors discusses rhetorical constructions of the Fourt Table and discusses the role of the fourt table in policy analysis, using a diverse and sometimes contradictory body of work, employing an analytic stance rooted in policy scholarship.
Abstract: This literature review engages with a diverse and sometimes contradictory body of work, employing an analytic stance rooted in policy scholarship. It discusses rhetorical constructions of the Fourt...
86 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a discourse-analytic approach to mediated populist discourse can inform and advance the current understanding of populist style by analysing some contextually produced linguistic and discursive choices in populist rhetorical repertoires.
Abstract: This article offers new ways of conceptualising style in right wing populist communicative performances, by foregrounding a structured and conceptually informed use of “style” that moves beyond the descriptive sense routinely employed in political communication. Specifically, it explores how a discourse-analytic approach to mediated populist discourse can inform and advance the current understanding of populist ‘style’ by analysing some contextually produced linguistic and discursive choices in populist rhetorical repertoires—i.e., the communicative strategies that are deployed in mediated contexts for right-wing populist political communication. Taking three illustrative examples of right wing populist party performances on TV news and current affairs broadcasts in Greece (GD), France (FN) and the UK (UKIP), the speakers’ use of a range of rhetorical devices is examined using models from socio-linguistics and discourse analysis: aspects of register shifts by GD in blame attribution speeches, interactional ‘bad manners’ in a French political debate, and Nigel Farage speaking ‘candidly’ in three different contexts of news reporting from the UK. In taking such a qualitative approach, it is argued that populist style cannot be defined in terms of one single feature, or set of features, common to all right wing populists and transferrable from one socio-cultural context to another, but more usefully as a set of motivated choices among alternative semiotic resources (linguistic/discursive, interactional and visual), which have social and cultural resonance. This focus on micro-level features of mediated interaction thus offers a more fine-grained understanding of style than is currently the case, as it shows how right-wing populist politicians’ performative styles are situated within specific (here European) socio-cultural and political communicative contexts; in this study, this is to say, the various television broadcasts in which they occur.
79 citations
TL;DR: There has been growing interest in the rhetorical use of history to express organizational identity claims as discussed by the authors. Yet the evolving role of the founder figure in managerial accounts has not so far receive...
Abstract: There has been growing interest in the rhetorical use of history to express organizational identity claims. Yet the evolving role of the founder figure in managerial accounts has not so far receive...
54 citations
Book•
23 Aug 2018
TL;DR: In this article, the Agrarian Wisdom of Isaiah 28-35 is presented as a history and hope for the future of agriculture in the world, i.e., history and faithfulness.
Abstract: History and Hope: The Agrarian Wisdom of Isaiah 28–35
53 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the citation practices of first-year students in the context of first year writing were analyzed. And the authors found that L2 students use a restricted range of reporting structures, and they primarily use sources for attribution function to display their knowledge of the topics, and as opposed to taking a strong positive or negative position, L2 student writers mainly adopt a non-committal stance by merely acknowledging or distancing themselves from cited materials, suggesting that students are inclined to show deference to the perceived authority of published sources.
51 citations
Book•
22 Mar 2018TL;DR: Roller as mentioned in this paper examines the process of observing, evaluating, and commemorating noteworthy actors, or deeds, and then holding those performances up as norms by which to judge subsequent actors or as patterns for them to imitate.
Abstract: Historical examples played a key role in ancient Roman culture, and Matthew B. Roller's book presents a coherent model for understanding the rhetorical, moral, and historiographical operations of Roman exemplarity. It examines the process of observing, evaluating, and commemorating noteworthy actors, or deeds, and then holding those performances up as norms by which to judge subsequent actors or as patterns for them to imitate. The model is fleshed out via detailed case studies of individual exemplary performers, the monuments that commemorate them, and the later contexts - the political arguments and social debates - in which these figures are invoked to support particular positions or agendas. Roller also considers the boundaries of, and ancient alternatives to, exemplary modes of argumentation, morality, and historical thinking. The book will engage anyone interested in how societies, from ancient Rome to today, invoke past performers and their deeds to address contemporary concerns and interests.
50 citations
TL;DR: Through its specific rhetorical potential that is distinct from verbal text, visual material facilitates and plays a pivotal role in linking novel phenomena to established and taken-for-granted soci....
Abstract: Through its specific rhetorical potential that is distinct from verbal text, visual material facilitates and plays a pivotal role in linking novel phenomena to established and taken-for-granted soc...
49 citations
Book•
31 Mar 2018TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the act of writing the unwritable in late Platonist writing and examine not only the philosophical concerns involved, but also the cultural and rhetorical aspects of the question.
Abstract: Plotinus, the greatest philosopher of Late Antiquity, discusses at length a first principle of reality - the One - which, he tells us, cannot be expressed in words or grasped in thought. How and why, then, does Plotinus write about it at all? This book explores this act of writing the unwritable. Seeking to explain what seems to be an insoluble paradox in the very practice of late Platonist writing, it examines not only the philosophical concerns involved, but the cultural and rhetorical aspects of the question. The discussion outlines an ancient practice of ‛philosophical silence' which determined the themes and tropes of public secrecy appropriate to Late Platonist philosophy. Through philosophic silence, public secrecy and silence flow into one another, and the unsaid space of the text becomes an initiatory secret. Understanding this mode of discourse allows us to resolve many apparent contradictions in Plotinus' thought.
48 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a cross-disciplinary study of the rhetorical structure of 3-minute-thesis (3MT) presentations is presented, revealing statistically significant associations between disciplinary affiliation and the likelihood to employ three rhetorical moves (i.e., Framework, Rationale, Purpose, Methods, Implication, and Termination).
48 citations
TL;DR: This paper used Rhetorical structure theory to identify the effects of Alzheimer's disease on the structure of discourse, both in spontaneous speech and in literature, and found that several discourse relations, especially those involving elaboration and attribution, are significant indicators of AD in speech.
Abstract: Background: Language is one of the first faculties afflicted by Alzheimer’s disease (AD). A growing body of work has focussed on leveraging automated analysis of speech to accurately predict the onset of AD. Previous work, however, did not address the effects of AD on the structure of discourse in spontaneous speech and literature.Aims: Our goal is to identify the effects of AD on the structure of discourse, both in spontaneous speech and in literature.Methods & Procedures: We use two existing data sets, DementiaBank and the Carolina Conversations Collection, to explore how AD manifests itself in spontaneous speech. This is done by automatically extracting discourse relations according to Rhetorical Structure Theory. We also study written novels, comparing authors with and without dementia using the same tools.Outcomes & Results: Several discourse relations, especially those involving elaboration and attribution, are significant indicators of AD in speech. Indicators of the disease in written text...
TL;DR: The authors compared a problem-solving account of discovery through writing, which attributes discovery to strategic rhetorical planning and assumes discovery is associated with better quality text, to a dual-process account, which attributed discovery to the combined effect of two conflicting processes with opposing relationships to text quality.
Abstract: This study compares a problem-solving account of discovery through writing, which attributes discovery to strategic rhetorical planning and assumes discovery is associated with better quality text, to a dual-process account, which attributes discovery to the combined effect of 2 conflicting processes with opposing relationships to text quality. Low and high self-monitors were asked to write under 2 planning conditions. Keystroke-logging was used to assess the relationship of writing processes with discovery and text quality. The results support the dual-process account: Discovery was related to spontaneous sentence production and global revision of text, which had opposing relationships with text quality.
TL;DR: The authors argue the emergence of and resistance toward rhetorical field methods responds to a growing ecological consciousness, reflecting a changing understanding of the relationship between human agency and the planet, and organize their argument in three related themes: culture, interconnection, and voice.
Abstract: This essay offers a narrative of rhetorical field methods and intertwined climate justice exigencies. We argue the emergence of and resistance toward rhetorical field methods responds to a growing ecological consciousness, reflecting a changing understanding of the relationship between human agency and the planet. Drawing upon fieldwork from our own research and other scholars in the field, we organize our argument in three related themes: culture, interconnection, and voice. Given the expansive objects, people, and practices rhetorical field methods engage, this approach offers one compelling way to listen to and amplify marginalized voices. Overall, this essay explores how rhetorical field methods have provided and might further offer a compelling set of principles and practices for resisting structures of ecological and social precarity for life on Earth.
01 Nov 2018
TL;DR: An annotation study resulting in a corpus of scientific publications annotated with argumentative components and relations is presented and the relations between argumentation and other rhetorical aspects of scientific writing, such as discourse roles and citation contexts are investigated.
Abstract: Argumentation is an essential feature of scientific language. We present an annotation study resulting in a corpus of scientific publications annotated with argumentative components and relations. The argumentative annotations have been added to the existing Dr. Inventor Corpus, already annotated for four other rhetorical aspects. We analyze the annotated argumentative structures and investigate the relations between argumentation and other rhetorical aspects of scientific writing, such as discourse roles and citation contexts.
TL;DR: The authors discusses the rhetorical strategies in Finnish educational policy documents dealing with digitalization and argues that the national education system is in dire need of digitization, and discusses the need for digitalization in Finnish education system.
Abstract: This article discusses the rhetorical strategies in Finnish educational policy documents dealing with digitalization. The documents argue that the national education system is in dire need of digit...
Book•
14 Jun 2018
TL;DR: The authors explored possible grounds on which language teachers could be employed if native-speakerism is rejected according to experts in the fields of intercultural communicative competence, English as a Lingua Franca and World Englishes.
Abstract: Despite unsubstantiated claims of best practice, the division of language-teaching professionals on the basis of their categorization as ‘native-speakers’ or ‘non-native speakers’ continues to cascade throughout the academic literature It has become normative, under the rhetorical guise of acting to correct prejudice and/or discrimination, to see native-speakerism as having a single beneficiary – the ‘native-speaker’ – and a single victim – the ‘non-native’ speaker However, this unidirectional perspective fails to deal with the more veiled systems through which those labeled as native-speakers and non-native speakers are both cast as casualties of this questionable bifurcation This volume documents such complexities and aims to fill the void currently observable within mainstream academic literature in the teaching of both English, and Japanese, foreign language education By identifying how the construct of Japanese native-speaker mirrors that of the ‘native-speaker’ of English, the volume presents a revealing insight into language teaching in Japan Further, taking a problem-solving approach, this volume explores possible grounds on which language teachers could be employed if native-speakerism is rejected according to experts in the fields of intercultural communicative competence, English as a Lingua Franca and World Englishes, all of which aim to replace the ‘native-speaker’ model with something new
Proceedings Article•
01 Aug 2018
TL;DR: This paper model rhetorical strategies for the computational synthesis of effective argumentation, and finds that the experts agree in the selection significantly more when following the same strategy.
Abstract: Persuasion is rarely achieved through a loose set of arguments alone. Rather, an effective delivery of arguments follows a rhetorical strategy, combining logical reasoning with appeals to ethics and emotion. We argue that such a strategy means to select, arrange, and phrase a set of argumentative discourse units. In this paper, we model rhetorical strategies for the computational synthesis of effective argumentation. In a study, we let 26 experts synthesize argumentative texts with different strategies for 10 topics. We find that the experts agree in the selection significantly more when following the same strategy. While the texts notably vary for different strategies, especially their arrangement remains stable. The results suggest that our model enables a strategical synthesis.
TL;DR: The authors drew upon archival and oral history research on organizational transition at Procter & Gamble (1950-2009) during which P&G evolved from a multinational to a global enterprise.
Abstract: This paper draws upon archival and oral history research on organizational transition at Procter & Gamble (1950–2009), during which P&G evolved from a multinational to a global enterprise. Intertex...
13 Jun 2018
TL;DR: The authors discuss different understandings of writing and English in relation to questions of rhetorical and linguistic flexibility, and raise questions about the relationship between what we see in writing research and what we teach about writing in multilingual contexts as well as between academic expectations versus professional ones for language use and writing.
Abstract: This chapter discusses different “trans” understandings of writing and English in relation to questions of rhetorical and linguistic flexibility. These are considered in the context of new evolutions in world dynamics that have highlighted growing interconnectedness and globalization. The chapter raises questions about the relationship between what we see in writing research and what we teach about writing in multilingual contexts, as well as between academic expectations versus professional ones for language use and writing. Five models for language and writing in this transnational context are presented and compared: translingualism, metrolingualism, plurilinguisme, cosmopolitanism, and heteroglossia. Finally, implications for research and teaching grounded in these models are considered.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the self-representation of twelve watchmaking firms located in a cluster in East Germany to understand how they apply rhetorical history to craft their identity.
Abstract: We analysed the self-representation of twelve watchmaking firms located in a cluster in East Germany to understand how they apply rhetorical history to craft their identity. The findings show that ...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore visual discourses about over-40 and over-50 femininities that emerge from women's own Instagram accounts, revealing two dominant themes (fitness and fashion) and two repeating rhetorical elements (motherhood and self-sufficiency) through which women make themselves visible as over40/50.
Abstract: This article explores visual discourses about over-40 and over-50 femininities that emerge from women’s own Instagram accounts. It analyses women’s visual and textual rhetoric of what over-40 and over-50 looks like, and whether it could interrupt the ageist, sexist, and body-normative discourses of female ageing and visibility. Intertextual visual discourse analysis of images, captions, and hashtags reveals two dominant themes (fitness and fashion) and two repeating rhetorical elements (motherhood and self-sufficiency) through which women make themselves visible as over-40/50. A few explicitly subversive discourses (i.e., over-40 fatshion account) exist, but a discourse of a healthy, fit, fashionable, independent, self-sufficient, and happy mother over-40/50 is prevalent. It easily lends itself to being interpreted as an insidious reproduction of post-feminist ideology, but I argue that there are moments of critique and subversion within. Thus, a reparative reading that acknowledges moments of dis...
TL;DR: This article investigated the rhetorical style of reviewing prior knowledge in English research articles (RAs) written by Indonesian academics published in English journals and found that Indonesian authors use citation mostly to support the importance of their research topic and prefer presenting positive justification rather than critiquing or negatively evaluating other authors' work in order to identify a research gap.
Abstract: When writing journal articles in English, authors are expected to comply with the conventionally appropriate rhetorical style This may be problematic for non-native speakers of English, such as Indonesian authors who write in English The purpose of this study is to investigate the rhetorical style of reviewing prior knowledge in English research articles (RAs) written by Indonesian academics published in English journals Forty English RA introductions by Indonesian authors were analysed on the authors’ communicative functions and type and tense of citations when citing other authors’ work in their English RA introductions The results show that when writing RAs in English, Indonesian authors use citation mostly to support the importance of their research topic and prefer presenting positive justification rather than critiquing or negatively evaluating other authors’ work in order to identify a research gap They also prefer using a non-integral type of citation and present tense in citing the r
01 Nov 2018
TL;DR: An easy-to-use tool that analyzes argumentation and other rhetorical aspects of scientific writing, which is collectively dub scitorics, which focuses on the fine-grained argumentative analysis of scientific text through identification of argument components.
Abstract: Argumentation is arguably one of the central
features of scientific language. We present
ArguminSci, an easy-to-use tool that analyzes argumentation and other rhetorical aspects of scientific writing, which we collectively dub scitorics. The main aspect we focus on is the fine-grained argumentative analysis of scientific text through identification of argument components. The functionality of ArguminSci is accessible via three interfaces: as a command line tool, via a RESTful application programming interface, and as a web application.
Book•
24 Oct 2018TL;DR: In this paper, a framework for investigating audience responses to political discourse is proposed, starting from the premise that audiences are active participants who bring their own background knowledge and political standpoint to the communicative event.
Abstract: This book sets out a framework for investigating audience responses to political discourse. It starts from the premise that audiences are active participants who bring their own background knowledge and political standpoint to the communicative event. To operationalise this perspective, the volume draws on concepts from classical rhetoric alongside contemporary research in cognitive stylistics and cognitive linguistics (including schema theory, Text World Theory, Cognitive Grammar, and mind-modelling, amongst others). It examines the role played by the speaker’s identity, the arguments they make, and the emotions of the audience in the – often critical – reception of political text and talk, using a diversity of examples to illustrate this three-dimensional approach – from political speeches, interviews and newspaper articles, to more creative text-types such as politicised rap music, television satire and filmic drama. The result of this wide-ranging application is a holistic and systematic account of the rhetorical and ideological effects of political discourse in reception.
TL;DR: Through an analysis of memetic responses to affective flashpoints in the collective US experience, namely, the 9/11 constellation, the potential for memes to influence not only the content of public memory but also the attitudes with which the authors remember that content is explored.
Abstract: This article explores the rhetorical function of Internet memes as memory actants. It contributes to an ongoing conversation about the ways in which digital communication has transformed the relati...
01 May 2018
TL;DR: The authors suggests that implicit concern has mostly relied on an abstract, and specific, concept of the body, which is only partially justified by the fact that the body has always been an implicit concern for rhetorical studies.
Abstract: The body has always been an implicit concern for rhetorical studies. This essay suggests that that implicit concern has mostly relied on an abstract, and specific, concept of the body. It is only t...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the variations of content across communication channels (subarenas), guided by different media logics, during the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in Sweden, finding that news media were more alarmist than Facebook comments, although alarmism declined on all subarenas as the danger became more tangible.
Abstract: Drawing on rhetorical arena theory, this study investigates the variations of content across communication channels (subarenas), guided by different media logics, during the 2014–2015 Ebola outbreak. Restricting the study to one country, Sweden, a content analysis was conducted of two national newspapers (in total 848 articles), their posts on branded Facebook pages (47) and user comments on these Facebook posts (1,661). Some conclusions to be made are, that content differed between subarenas, with Facebook news being more sensational and focused on human interest stories, and Facebook comments to a greater extent related to other current socio‐political issues. Also, news media were more alarmist than Facebook comments, although alarmism declined on all subarenas as the danger became more tangible.
TL;DR: It is demonstrated for the first time that two common but previously under-appreciated Maya rituals are likely planting and rain-beckoning rituals preferentially performed at certain times of the year in close step with the rainy season and the Maya agricultural cycle.
Abstract: Planting and rain-beckoning rituals are an extremely common way in which past and present human communities have confronted the risk of drought across a range of environments worldwide In tropical environments, such ceremonies are particularly salient despite widespread assumptions that water supplies are unproblematic in such regions We demonstrate for the first time that two common but previously under-appreciated Maya rituals are likely planting and rain-beckoning rituals preferentially performed at certain times of the year in close step with the rainy season and the Maya agricultural cycle We also argue for considerable historical continuity between these Classic Maya ceremonies and later Maya community rituals still performed in times of uncertain weather conditions up to the present day across Guatemala, Belize, and eastern Mexico During the Terminal Classic period (AD 800-900), the changing role played by ancient Maya drought-related rituals fits into a wider rhetorical shift observed in Maya texts away from the more characteristic focus on royal births, enthronements, marriages, and wars towards greater emphasis on the correct perpetuation of key ceremonies, and we argue that such changes are consistent with palaeoclimatic evidence for a period of diminished precipitation and recurrent drought