Quotations as Devices of Political Persuasion and Argumentation: A Conceptual Introduction

This chapter presents a general introduction to the book. It draws upon the idea that politics has always been a domain of intense debateDebate, where the persuasive language used by policymakers greatly influences public opinion and the process and outcome of public policy. To influence the political judgment and reasoning of their constituents, fellow politicians and other actors in the public sphere, political communicators use different styles of rhetoric. These include explicit and implicit language, exploiting slogans, catchwordsCatchword and sound bites, drawing on metaphorsMetaphor, and employing respectful and empathetic or debasement rhetoric. The chapter suggests that one of the communication styles politicians use in this regard are quotations. It argues that bringing before the audience someone else’s words or voice (who is often absent) is an important (at times unavoidable) element of argumentative and persuasive speech (and writing). The chapter introduces the main characteristics and conversational functions of quotesQuotes, and the way quotesQuotes can be generally classified. Its final section describes the five intellectual goals motivating this volume’s contributors, and briefly describes each of the contributions.