Designing a Research Method for the Application of Toulmin’ s Argumentation Theory in Stylistics, Discourse Analysis, and Legal Linguistics

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MAZINANI ABOLFAZL; nasiri sahar

Title

Designing a Research Method for the Application of Toulmin’ s Argumentation Theory in Stylistics, Discourse Analysis, and Legal Linguistics

Author(s)

MAZINANI ABOLFAZL | nasiri sahar | Issue Writer Certificate

Keywords

Research methodologyQ3

Toulmin’s argumentation theoryQ1

argumentation styleQ1

forensic discourse analysisQ1

Abstract

1)Introduction Argumentation theory is the interdisciplinary study of how conclusions can be reached through logical reasoning; that is, claims based, soundly or not, on premises. This art and science employed in the process of civil debates, dialogues, conversations, and persuasions to protect one’ s beliefs or self-interests or choose to change them. It is also used in law, for example in trials, in preparing an argument to be presented to a court, and in testing the validity of certain kinds of evidence. Typically, an argument has an internal structure, comprising the following: a set of assumptions or premises a method of reasoning (deduction, induction, etc. ) a conclusion or claim. Often classical logic is used as the method of reasoning so that the conclusion follows logically from the assumptions or support. However, one challenge is that if the set of assumptions is inconsistent then anything can follow logically from inconsistency. That’ s why theorist philosophers try to develop approaches to analyze the consistency and strength of arguments. In the same vein, argumentation was generally integrated in the analytical toolkit of Discursive-Historical Approach (See Wodak, 2001, 2015; Reisigl and Wodak, 2009) and Topic-based Discourse Analysis Model (See Mazinani, 2017; Mazinani, Alizadeh, & Azad, 2017). However, some theories of argumentation, e. g. Toulmin’ s Model, are so extensive that they can be used as a single complete toolbox. Keeping this in mind, we aim, in this paper, to design and propose an analytical research method on the basis of this model to be applied in different linguistic areas including Stylistics, Discourse Analysis, and Forensic Linguistics. Stephen Toulmin (1958, [2003]), an English philosopher, developed a practical approach to analyzing the logic of everyday arguments. His approach involves identifying and separating the various components of an argument into a specific order so that they may be appraised. 2)Toulmin’ s Model and the Proposed Research Method In an attempt to provide solutions to the problems of absolutism and relativism, Toulmin attempts throughout his work to develop standards that are neither absolutist nor relativist for assessing the worth of ideas. He believes that a good argument can succeed in providing good justification to a claim, which will stand up to criticism and earn a favorable verdict. In The Uses of Argument (1958 [2003]), Toulmin introduced what became known as the Toulmin Model of Argument, which broke argument into six interrelated components: Claim: Conclusions whose merit must be established. For example, if a person tries to convince a listener that he is a British citizen, the claim would be "I am a British citizen. " Data: The facts we appeal to as a foundation for the claim. Warrant: The statement authorizing our movement from the data to the claim. In order to move from some data to a particular claim, one must supply a warrant-e. g. a law article, a logical statement, or a topo-to bridge the gap between the data and the claim. Backing: Credentials designed to certify the statement expressed in the warrant; backing must be introduced when the warrant itself is not convincing enough to the readers or the listeners. Rebuttal: Statements recognizing the restrictions, e. g. exceptions, to which the claim may legitimately be applied. Qualifier: Words or phrases expressing the speaker's degree of force or certainty concerning the claim. Such words or phrases include "possible, " "probably, " "impossible, " "certainly, " "presumably, " "as far as the evidence goes, " or "necessarily. " The claim "I am definitely a British citizen" has a greater degree of force than the claim "I am a British citizen, presumably. " The first three elements "claim", "data", and "warrant" are considered as the essential components of practical arguments, while the second triad "qualifier", "backing", and "rebuttal" may not be needed or applied in some arguments. Subsequently, these components are recognized in the following tailor-made text: "Institutions should prohibit the sacrifice of animals in doing cosmetic experiments [claim]. In these experiments, animals are tortured and/or killed [Data]. I believe Qualifier there is no need to justify this [warrant]. On one hand, the health and life of animals are more important than the benefit of cosmetics industries [Backing 1]. On the other hand, human beings take more advantages from some animals alive than dead [Backing 2]. Of course, I suppose Qualifier it is necessary to do these experiments in other fields of study such as pharmaceutics and medicine since all-inclusive prohibition of such experiments slows down their progress [Rebuttal]” As you see, the analysis of the component ‘ Qualifier’ in the model of Toulmin can, to a great extent, be inspired by modality analysis in Functional Systemic Grammar. Therefore, many texts, particularly defense bills, can be analyzed by the following suggested research objectives and questions: Proposed Research Objectives: The analysis of the dominant argumentation style of a chosen writer, lawyer, poet, theorist etc. in his/her selected text is determined as a general aim which is itself composed of the following objectives: To find and classify the writer’ s explicit or implied claims and their correspondent fields or backgrounds; To analyze the sufficiency of the data and to categorize them; these statements are some facts based on which the claims are made; To identify the explicit/implicit warrants and their correspondent backings; warrants can also be categorized into rational, legal or common sense statements, topos, etc., which are to confirm the claims of the writer. Fallacies should not be overlooked; To examine if the writer has been aware of possible rebuttals to his/her used warrants and stated claims; To examine the text qualifiers by implementing modality analysis to uncover the certainty degree of the writer while claiming, concluding, using data and evidence. Proposed Research Questions: Since discourse studies are basically ideological which means they are to decipher the underlying beliefs and read the mind of the creators of the texts under analysis, our research questions were designed as follows: 1) What claims were made by the creator of the selected text(s)? And in which fields of study? 2) What are the warrants and backings applied by the creator of the text(s) to confirm his/her made claims or to persuade the audience? Are the warrants rational, legal, and experimental, topos etc.? 3) What qualifiers are used in the text(s)? How frequent are they? What degree of certainty do they show for the writer/speaker while stating the data, warrants and making his/her claims? 4) What are the data-facts or assumptions-provided for the audience to be able to relate the warrants to the made claims? Are these data sufficient or relevant? 5) Did the creator of the text(s) know enough of possible rebuttals to the applied warrants? In other words, are the made claims stable? Or can they be rebutted by the analyst? 3) Conclusion Considering the argumentation process as well as the theorization of the relativist and absolutist philosophers on this issue, Toulmin presented a six-component model, which is both absolutistic and relativistic. In his model, an argument may have these components: 1) Claim, 2) Warrant, 3) Data, 4) Qualifier, 5) Backing, and 6) Rebuttal, of which the first three are necessary, and the others optional. Over time, the application capacity of this model was acknowledged in Linguistics and Discourse Analysis. In this paper, due to the lack of a systematic methodology to apply Toulmin’ s Model in analytic works, a research method was proposed to show the analytical power of this Model in the domains of Stylistics, Legal Linguistics, and Discourse Analysis. In this methodology we suggest that the modality analysis can be applied to the analysis of ‘ Qualifiers’-one of the six components of Toulminian Model. The general aim of the designed method is "to study the argumentation style of the given writer in his selected work", and duly introduces 5 research questions; its application was illustrated by three different texts including a piece of poetry, a defense bill, and a political speech by Donald Trump.

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APA: Copy

MAZINANI, ABOLFAZL, & nasiri, sahar. (2019). Designing a Research Method for the Application of Toulmin’ s Argumentation Theory in Stylistics, Discourse Analysis, and Legal Linguistics. LANGUAGE RELATED RESEARCH (COMPARATIVE LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE RESEARCH), 10(3 (51) ), 169-189. SID. https://sid.ir/paper/166285/en

Vancouver: Copy

MAZINANI ABOLFAZL, nasiri sahar. Designing a Research Method for the Application of Toulmin’ s Argumentation Theory in Stylistics, Discourse Analysis, and Legal Linguistics. LANGUAGE RELATED RESEARCH (COMPARATIVE LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE RESEARCH)[Internet]. 2019;10(3 (51) ):169-189. Available from: https://sid.ir/paper/166285/en

IEEE: Copy

ABOLFAZL MAZINANI, and sahar nasiri, “Designing a Research Method for the Application of Toulmin’ s Argumentation Theory in Stylistics, Discourse Analysis, and Legal Linguistics,” LANGUAGE RELATED RESEARCH (COMPARATIVE LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE RESEARCH), vol. 10, no. 3 (51) , pp. 169–189, 2019, [Online]. Available: https://sid.ir/paper/166285/en

Scientific Information Database

ISSN: 2588-4824

Journal Paper

Designing a Research Method for the Application of Toulmin’ s Argumentation Theory in Stylistics, Discourse Analysis, and Legal Linguistics