Argumentationstopoi in der Text- und Diskursanalyse – alte Pfade, neue Wege

Abstract

The analysis of topoi (patterns of argumentation) is an established method of text and discourse analysis. Following the ancient rhetoric and the modern theory of argumentation, this article elaborates on the essential aspects of the topos concept. In particular it will be discussed, how the complex topos concept was received in the linguistics and implemented as a method of discourse analysis. The discourse-orientated methods of topos analysis include a structure- and a content-related analysis of topoi. So far these two approaches have been in conflict with each other. However, as it will be shown below, they can be combined to analyze topological discourse formations in order to take a closer look at the discourse in the sense of Foucault. Using the example of legitimizing political action in times of economic and political crises, the added value of this integrative approach is demonstrated.

Landschaft und Vegetation

“…In dem Vorhaben zu "Originalitätsverdacht" war eine sprachwissenschaftliche Topos-Analyse von Texten über invasive Arten angedacht, aus der Hypothesen über die Wahrnehmung dieser Arten abgeleitet werden sollten. "Topos" bedeutet wörtlich "Ort" oder "Stelle", in den Sprachwissenschaften ist hiermit aber ein Denkmuster oder -abwertend -Gemeinplatz gemeint, nach dem Argumentationen gebildet werden, deren Schlüssigkeit auf (vermeintlich) anerkannten Meinungen beruhen (Römer 2018). Topoi schöpfen damit aus Denkmustern und vorherrschenden, kollektiven Überzeugungen.…”

Seasonal workers wanted! Germany’s seasonal labour migration regime and the COVID-19 pandemic

“…To identify the specific argumentation patterns political actors apply to legitimise their practices or demands as ‘common sense’, a discourse-oriented argumentation analysis following Martin Wengeler (2003) was conducted. The method is based on the so-called topoi, that is, argumentation patterns ‘whose conclusiveness or conclusion follows from premises that are [socially] accepted opinions’ (Römer, 2018: 122). In detail, roughly, 600 single argumentations have been aggregated into main topoi by identifying common underlying premises, which are explicated in italic below.…”