Argumentative Factors in Arabic and Their Role in Guiding Discourse

Abstract

The field of argumentative studies in the modern era has attracted increasing attention, becoming a central focus in contemporary research. This interest has manifested through a quantitative and qualitative accumulation of books and studies that have addressed argumentation through analysis and theorisation. As a result of this cognitive momentum, multiple theories of argumentation have emerged, laying the foundations of this pragmatic field. Among the most prominent of these theories are those of Toulmin, Perelman, and Tyteca, as well as the approaches of Ducrot. These theorists have worked to establish the features of this discipline and to define its operational concepts, thereby contributing to the formation of an independent epistemological identity for argumentative studies. If the subject of argumentation for Perelman lies in the study of the techniques of discourse to lead the receiver to acceptance and submission, thus constituting a logical phenomenon aimed at achieving persuasion, Ducrot, by contrast, considers argumentation a linguistic phenomenon concerned with the study of linguistic means and thus linked to the structure of utterances and discourse. Argumentative factors are considered one of these linguistic elements and components that realise the argumentative function of language, as highlighted in Ducrot’s theory. In this paper, we seek to demonstrate the importance of argumentative factors in discourse and their role in persuading the receiver and achieving the speaker’s intentions.