Argument as a natural category: The routine grounds for arguing in conversation

Abstract

A theoretical analysis of the natural category “argument”; can be built inductively from examination of discursive objects recognizable as members of the category. The natural category of argument appears to be defined functionally by its disagreement‐relevance and structurally by its expansion of basic sequences of speech acts. Expansion of speech act sequences into prototypical arguments—those in which reasons are exchanged—is governed by felicity conditions associated with the particular speech acts involved, so that making an argument is always done with reference to socially shared structures amounting to the proof requirements of individual speech acts.

Notes

Mr. Jacobs and Ms. Jackson are Assistant Professors of Speech Communication, University of Nebraska‐Lincoln.