Orality in Persian Argumentative Discourse: A Case Study of Editorials

Abstract

Languages have their own distinctive styles of argumentation. It seems some languages like Arabic and Persian have a preference for using the “oral” features of parataxis, formulaicity and repetition as persuasive devices in argumentation. The purpose of this article is first to examine these “oral” characteristics in Persian argumentation, and then to tie together the two areas of research: the study of orality and the study of metadiscourse. The article claims that these oral characteristics in Persian are means of gaining rhetorical effectiveness. Therefore, they should be considered as metadiscourse devices used to create a bond between writer and reader.

Keywords:

• Argumentation
• Oral Features
• Parataxis
• Formulaicity
• Repetition
• Rhetoric
• Metadiscourse

Notes

1 Longacre, The Grammar of Discourse.

2 Ong, Orality and Literacy.

3 Parry, The Making of Homeric Verse, 270.

4 Lazard, “The Rise of the New Persian Language.”

5 E.g. Ong, Orality and Literacy; and Johnstone, “‘Orality' and Discourse Structure.”

6 The distinction between propositional and non-propositional material is crucial in metadiscourse studies. For more information in this regard see Khabbazi-Oskouei, “Propositional or Non-propositional.”

7 Cited in Hyland, Metadiscourse: Exploring Interaction in Writing, 3.

8 See Vande Kopple, “Some Exploratory Discourse on Metadiscourse”; Vande Kopple, “Metadiscourse, Discourse”; Crismore, Talking with Readers; Crismore and Farnsworth, “Mr Darwin and His Readers”; Crismore and Farnsworth, “Metadiscourse in Popular and Professional Science Discourse”; Hyland, “Hedging in Academic Writing”; Hyland, “Writing Without Conviction?”; Hyland “Persuasion and Context”; Hyland, Metadiscourse: Exploring Interaction in Writing; Hyland and Tse, “Metadiscourse in Academic Writing.”

9 Crismore, Talking with Readers, 7.

10 See Crismore, “The Rhetoric of Textbooks”; Vande Kopple, “Metadiscourse, Discourse”; Hyland, Metadiscourse: Exploring Interaction in Writing.

11 Prospect, no. 138, September 2007; cited in Khabbazi-Oskouei, “Interactional Variation in English and Persian,” 20.

12 Gozāresh, no. 201, September–October 2008, in Khabbazi-Oskouei, “Interactional Variation in English and Persian,” 350.

13 Sometimes referred to as “interactional metadiscourse.” For the slight differences of meaning see Hyland, Metadiscourse: Exploring Interaction in Writing.

14 New Statesman, February 14, 2008; cited in Khabbazi-Oskouei, “Interactional Variation in English and Persian,” 21.

15 Ettelā‘āt Haftegi, no. 3364; in Khabbazi-Oskouei, “Interactional Variation in English and Persian,” 325.

16 Abdollahzadeh, “Interpersonal Metadiscourse in ELT Papers.”

17 Johnstone, “‘Orality' and Discourse Structure in Modern Standard Arabic.”

18 e.g. Koch, “Repetition in Discourse”; Johnstone, “Presentation as Proof”; Johnstone, “Introduction: Perspectives on Repetition”; Johnstone, “‘Orality' and Discourse Structure in Modern Standard Arabic”; and El-Shiyab, “The Structure of Argumentation in Arabic.”

19 El-Shiyab, “The Structure of Argumentation in Arabic,” 2–3.

20 Johnstone, “‘Orality' and Discourse Structure in Modern Standard Arabic,” 227.

21 Gozāresh, no. 196, March–April 2008; cited in Khabbazi-Oskouei, “Interactional Variation in English and Persian,” 356.

22 Cheshmandāz-e Irān, no. 52, October–December 2008; cited in Khabbazi-Oskouei, “Interactional Variation in English and Persian,” 233.

23 Johnstone, “‘Orality' and Discourse Structure in Modern Standard Arabic.”

24 Ibid., 218–19.

25 Ibid.

26 Gozāresh, no. 201, September–October 2008; cited in Khabbazi-Oskouei, “Interactional Variation in English and Persian,” 351.

27 Ettelā‘āt Haftegi, no. 3305; cited in Khabbazi-Oskouei, “Interactional Variation in English and Persian,” 117.

28 Ettelā‘āt Haftegi, no. 3364; cited in Khabbazi-Oskouei, “Interactional Variation in English and Persian,” 319.

29 I did not come across any prior-text structural repetition in the texts I analyzed.

30 See de Beaugrande and Dressler, Introduction to Text Linguistics; Koch, “Repetition in Discourse.”

31 Cheshmandāz-e Irān, no. 53, December–February 2008–2009; cited in Khabbazi-Oskouei, “Interactional Variation in English and Persian,” 263–4.

32 Manelis and Yekovich, “Repetition of Propositional Arguments in Sentences.”

33 El-Shiyab, “The Structure of Argumentation in Arabic.”

34 Ibid.

35 De Beaugrande, Text, Discourse and Process.