Cover not available

Article published In: Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 14:5 (2015) ► pp.689–711

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

Patterns of Argumentation and the Heterogeneity of Social Knowledge

 | University of Trier |
Published online: 28 January 2016
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.14.5.04wen
This paper outlines an approach to the analysis of topoi that rests on a notion of topos as a synonym for “argumentation pattern”. The approach is embedded within the overall theoretical and methodical considerations of the discourse linguistic “school” called “linguistic discourse history” or “historic discourse semantics”. After explaining the background of topos analysis, several examples from migration-related public discourse will be used to illustrate the scope and limits of the approach proposed in the paper. A special focus will be given to two partial results of a study of the public discourse on work-related migration between 1960 and 1985 (cf. Wengeler, Martin. 2003. Topos und Diskurs. Begründung einer argumentationsanalytischen Methode und ihre Anwendung auf den Migrationsdiskurs (1960–1985). Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), supplemented by the treatment of the same topic around the year 2000. Within our analysis of the discourse on migration, manifold argumentation patterns will be highlighted in the different periods pointing to the heterogeneity of common sense functionalised for argumentative purposes.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Historic Discourse Semantics
  • 3.Method For The Analysis Of Topoi
  • 4.Topos Analysis: An Example
  • 5.German Migration Discourse 1960–1985: Results Of The Topos Analysis
  • Literature
References (28)
Literature
Baker, Paul, Costas Gabrielatos, Majid Khosravinik, Michał Krzyżanowski, Tony McEnery, and Ruth Wodak. 2008. “A Useful Methodological Synergy? Combining Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus Linguistics to Examine Discourses of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the UK Press.” Discourse & Society 191: 273–306. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bornscheuer, Lothar. 1976. Topik. Zur Struktur der gesellschaftlichen Einbildungskraft. Frankfurt a.M: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Busse, Dietrich. 1987. Historische Semantik. Analyse eines Programms. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Busse, Dietrich, and Wolfgang Teubert. 1994. “Ist Diskurs ein sprachwissenschaftliches Objekt? Zur Methodenfrage der historischen Semantik.” In Begriffsgeschichte und Diskursgeschichte. Methodenfragen und Forschungsergebnisse der historischen Semantik, ed. by Dietrich Busse, Fritz Hermanns, and Wolfgang Teubert, 10–27. Opladen: Westdeutscher VerlagGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Graevskaia, Alexandra. 2013. “Die machen unser schönes Viertel kaputt. Rassismus und Antiziganismus am Beispiel Duisburg.” In Der Kampf um Räume: Neoliberale und extrem rechte Konzepte von Hegemonie und Expansion, 75–111. ed. by Helmut Kellershohn, and Jobst Paul. Münster: Unrast. xGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Herbert, Ulrich. 2001. Geschichte der Ausländerpolitik in Deutschland. Saisonarbeiter, Zwangsarbeiter, Gastarbeiter, Flüchtlinge. Munich: C.H. Beck.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jung, Matthias. 1994. “Zählen oder deuten? Das Methodenproblem der Diskursgeschichte am Beispiel der Atomenergiedebatte.” In Begriffsgeschichte und Diskursgeschichte. Methodenfragen und Forschungsergebnisse der historischen Semantik, 60–81. ed. by Dietrich Busse, Fritz Hermanns, and Wolfgang Teubert. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2001. “Diskurshistorische Analyse – eine linguistische Perspektive.” In Handbuch Sozialwissenschaftliche Diskursanalyse. Vol. 1: Theorien und Methoden, ed. by Reiner Keller, Andreas Hirseland, Werner Schneider, and Willy Viehöver, 29–51.Opladen: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kalwa, Nina. 2013. Das Konzept “Islam”. Eine diskurslinguistische Untersuchung. Berlin, Boston: de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kienpointner, Manfred. 1992. Alltagslogik. Struktur und Funktion von Argumentationsmustern. Stuttgart, Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1996. Vernünftig argumentieren. Regeln und Techniken der Diskussion. Reinbek: Rowohlt.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Köster, Werner (ed.). 2008. Parallelgesellschaften. Diskursanalysen zur Dramatisierung von Migration. Beiträge studentischen Forschens. Essen: Klartext.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kopperschmidt, Josef. 1989. Methodik der Argumentationsanalyse. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1991. “Formale Topik. Anmerkungen zu ihrer heuristischen Funktionalisierung innerhalb einer Argumentationsanalytik.” In Rhetorik zwischen den Wissenschaften. Geschichte, System, Praxis als Probleme des “Historischen Wörterbuchs der Rhetorik”, ed. by Gert Ueding, 53–62. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Krieger, Annette. 2005. “Ein Haus mit offenen Fenstern und Türen. Metaphern im Einwanderungsdiskurs von 1998 bis 2001.” In Sprachgeschichte als Zeitgeschichte, ed. by Martin Wengeler. Hildesheim, 409–434. New York: Olms.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Krzyżanowski, Michał. 2010. The Discursive Construction of European Identities. A Multi-Level Approach to Discourse and Identity in the Transforming European Union. Frankfurt a.M: Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Messer, Michi, Renée Schröder, and Ruth Wodak (eds). 2012. Migrations. Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Wien: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mikler, Anja. 2005. Migrationsdiskurse politischer Eliten: Identitätspolitik durch einen Diskurs der Ungleichheit? Eine diskursanalytische Untersuchung von Migrationsdiskursen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1999-2002. Dortmund. Available at: [URL] (Accessed: 5 February 2014).
Ottmers, Clemens. 1996. Rhetorik. Stuttgart, Weimar: Metzler. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reisigl, Martin. 2007. Nationale Rhetorik in Fest- und Gedenkreden. Eine diskursanalytische Studie zum “Österreichischen Millenium” in den Jahren 1946 und 1996. Heidelberg: Stauffenburg.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reisigl, Martin, and Ruth Wodak. 2001. Discourse and Discrimination. Rhetorics of Racism and Discrimination. London, New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2009. “The Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA)”, In Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis, ed. by Ruth Wodak, and Michael Meyer, Rev. 2nd edition, 87–121. London: Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Spitzmüller, Jürgen, and Ingo H. Warnke. 2011. Diskurslinguistik. Eine Einführung in Theorien und Methoden der transtextuellen Sprachanalyse. Berlin, New York: de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stein, Christina. 2012. Die Sprache der Sarrazin-Debatte. Eine diskurslinguistische Analyse. Marburg: Tectum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Toulmin, Stephen. 1975. Der Gebrauch von Argumenten. Kronberg, Ts: Scriptor.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Warnke, Ingo H., and Jürgen Spitzmüller. 2008. “Methoden und Methodologie der Diskurslinguistik – Grundlagen und Verfahren einer Sprachwissenschaft jenseits textueller Grenzen.” In Methoden der Diskurslinguistik. Sprachwissenschaftliche Zugänge zur transtextuellen Ebene, ed. by Ingo H. Warnke, and Jürgen Spitzmüller. Berlin, New York: de Gruyter, 3–51. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wengeler, Martin. 2003. Topos und Diskurs. Begründung einer argumentationsanalytischen Methode und ihre Anwendung auf den Migrationsdiskurs (1960–1985). Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wodak, Ruth. 2001. “The Discourse-historical Approach.” In Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis, ed. by Ruth Wodak, and Michael Meyer, 63–95. London: Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (9)

Cited by nine other publications

Filipiak, Magdalena
2025. The topos-based architecture of Internet platforms and the social polarisation of worldviews. Journal of Modern Science 63:3 ► pp. 1043 ff. DOI logo
Kiemes, Carina, Marcus Müller & Martin Wengeler
2025. The analysis of argumentation topoi. Nota Bene 2:1 ► pp. 106 ff. DOI logo
Schröter, Juliane
2023. The Austrian Press Discourse on Refugees, Migrants, and Migration. In The Representation of REFUGEES and MIGRANTS in European National Media Discourses from 2015 to 2017 [Linguistik in Empirie und Theorie/Empirical and Theoretical Linguistics, ], ► pp. 23 ff. DOI logo
Müller, Marcus
2021. Necessity, Norm and Missing Knowledge. Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik 51:3 ► pp. 421 ff. DOI logo
Ängsal, Magnus P.
2021. Who is an expert? A corpus-assisted analysis of the expert in Swedish Covid-19 discourse. tekst i dyskurs - text und diskurs :15 (2021) ► pp. 171 ff. DOI logo
Kranert, Michael
2020. Introduction: Discursive Approaches to Populism Across Disciplines. In Discursive Approaches to Populism Across Disciplines, ► pp. 3 ff. DOI logo
Mwangi, Simone
2020. Conocimiento cultural como base para la construcción de identidad nacional. Un análisis del discurso de la prensa sobre el default de 2014 en Argentina. Pragmática Sociocultural / Sociocultural Pragmatics 8:1 ► pp. 77 ff. DOI logo
Scholz, Ronny
2019. Lexicometry: A Quantifying Heuristic for Social Scientists in Discourse Studies. In Quantifying Approaches to Discourse for Social Scientists [Postdisciplinary Studies in Discourse, ], ► pp. 123 ff. DOI logo
Decock, Sofie & Uta Schaffers
2018. Die Darstellung der ›anderen Frau‹ in Reisetexten. Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik 48:4 ► pp. 775 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue