ABSTRACT
The authors introduce the volume by providing overviews of linguistics and rhetoric for the ways in which they theorize the materials, strategies, and structures of persuasion, and the ways in which they intersect with each other, as well as with elements and perspectives from semiotics, cognitive science, and argumentation studies. The linguistics overview highlights the “levels” (sound, words, syntax, and meaning) and the perspectives (formal, philosophical, social, and cognitive) of analysis. The rhetorical overview highlights the fundamental genres (ceremonial, legal, political), appeals (character, emotion, reason), and “canons” (invention, arrangement, style, delivery, memory) of persuasion. The authors end with a list of options for designing studies of persuasive language, a consideration of new directions of study, and an acknowledgment of the enduring moral questions raised by the power of persuasion.
