* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
LINGUIST List logo Eastern Michigan University Wayne State University *
* People & Organizations * Jobs * Calls & Conferences * Publications * Language Resources * Text & Computer Tools * Teaching & Learning * Mailing Lists * Search *
* *
 
E-mail this message to a friend
Title: Topos und Metapher: Zur Pragmatik und Rhetorik des Verständlichmachens (Topos and Metaphor: The pragmatics and the rhetoric of enhancing comprehension)
Author: Joerg Jost
Email: click here to access email
Homepage: http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/deutsch/lehrende/jost/
Degree Awarded: Rheinische-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen , German Philology
Degree Date: 2007
Linguistic Subfield(s): Applied Linguistics
Philosophy of Language
Pragmatics
Director(s): Ludwig Jäger
Eva Jakobs
Abstract:

Communication is the result of cooperation and negotiation between
speakers/writers and listeners/readers, a process which requires a basis of
common knowledge. When, within a society, this basis is eroded by an
increase in specialist discourse and a fragmentation of knowledge, the
failure of communication is imminent. In order to counter such developments
and ensure successful communication, speakers/writers rely on certain
linguistic strategies that enhance comprehension. The central claim of my
dissertation is that these strategies can be described as
pragma-rhetorical. What are the advantages of Rhetoric and Speech Act
Theory for an analysis of
these strategies of comprehension enhancement? Which role do topoi and
metaphors play within this approach? In brief: the Aristotelian techné
rhetorike is characterised by its methodical approach, the calculablility
of its results and its focus on the performative aspects of communication,
and these characteristics make it a powerful tool for ensuring successful
communication. Furthermore, an exemplary analysis of specific domains
(advertising and public relations, corporate communications and customer
communications where comprehension is the main purpose of communication)
and of texts that are essentially persuasive in function can show how topoi
and metaphors contribute to the enhancement of comprehension.

(Written in German; published as: Topos und Metapher. Zur Pragmatik und
Rhetorik des Verständlichmachens, Heidelberg: Winter, 393 p.)
Add a dissertation
Update dissertation
Page Updated: 28-Nov-2009

Please report any bad links or misclassified data

LINGUIST Homepage | Read LINGUIST | Contact us

NSF Logo

While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed
on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.