Speech act theory and the study of argumentation

Abstract

In this paper, the influence of speech act theory and Grice's theory of conversational implicature on the study of argumentation is discussed. First, the role that pragmatic insights play in van Eemeren and Grootendorst's pragma-dialectical theory of argumentation and Jackson and Jacobs' conversational approach to argumentation is described. Next, a number of examples of recent work by argumentation scholars is presented in which insights from speech act theory play a prominent role.