LINGUIST List 23.85
Thu Jan 05 2012
Diss: Discourse Analysis: Hommerberg: 'Persuasiveness in the ...'
Editor for this issue: Xiyan Wang
<xiyanlinguistlist.org>
Date: 05-Jan-2012
From: Charlotte Hommerberg <charlotte.hommerberg
lnu.se>
Subject: Persuasiveness in the Discourse of Wine: The rhetoric of Robert Parker
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Institution: School of Language and Literature, Linnaeus University
Program: English Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2011
Author: Charlotte Hommerberg
Dissertation Title: Persuasiveness in the Discourse of Wine: The rhetoric of Robert Parker
Linguistic Field(s):
Discourse Analysis
Dissertation Director:
Carita Paradis
Maria Lindgren
Dissertation Abstract:
The primary purpose of this study is to explore a case of remarkablypowerful contemporary rhetoric, namely Robert Parker's wine writing, whichhas had an unprecedented impact in the world of prestigious wine for morethan two decades. Parker, an American autodidact who gave up his career inlaw to become a full-time wine critic, is considered the most influentialcritic of all time. This background motivates the approach of the currentenquiry, which targets the persuasiveness in Parker's writing. Theinvestigation strives to bring to the fore both explicit and implicitelements of his wine reviews that have the potential to contribute torhetorical success.
The material selected for analysis comprises a corpus of reviews extractedfrom Parker's extensive bulk of wine writing. The texts are studied againstthe backdrop of socio-cultural and institutional frames. Considerableimportance is assigned to the fact that the reviews occur within a strictlyspecialized field of discourse with a highly conventionalized configuration.
This hermeneutic enquiry approaches the topic from three analyticalperspectives, designed to highlight persuasiveness in representations,argumentation and appraisal. The presentation reports on schematic patternsin Parker's discourse as well as close interpretation of individual texts.The analysis of representations shows that both visual and verbalrepresentations contribute to the persuasiveness of the text. Theargumentative exploration of Parker's discourse, which is assisted by theanalytical tools of pragma-dialectics, demonstrates that the reviewsinvolve rational argumentation on several subordinate levels, given insupport of assessments and recommendations. Finally, the perspective ofappraisal draws on the analytical resources provided by the Appraisal modelto shed light on the way in which the audience is positioned to respondwith respect to emotional, associative and perceptual values. The resultsindicate that the persuasiveness of Parker's discourse arises as a resultof concordance among an intricate array of interrelated factors. Theaudience is recurrently demonstrated to play a crucial role asco-constructors of the message.
The present study also has methodological outcomes, presenting a novelcombination of analytical methods to perform contextually situateddiscourse analysis. In addition, the material is allowed to challenge thetheoretical ideas and notions that are addressed.
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