Constructing credibility through representations in the discourse of wine: Evidentiality, temporality and epistemic control

This study investigates the relationship between evidentiality, temporality and epistemic control through detailed interpretive analysis of wine reviews written by Robert Parker, whose outstanding authority in this particular discourse field provides an exceptionally fruitful backdrop for the exploration of credibility in discourse. The material consists of 200 entire reviews, which are divided into units based on differences in temporality, evidentiality and modes of knowing. The analysis takes into consideration linguistic markers realized in the texts as well as implicitness that emanates from general world knowledge and more specific contextual awareness. It is shown in detail how the construction of credibility in this particular instance of persuasive discourse relies on complex interrelations between explicit and implicit features of texts as well as combinations of socio-cultural factors, which taken together result in epistemic control of the depicted events, i.e. an impression that what is communicated is the ultimate truth about the wines. The more general implications of the study are first to contribute to the body of theoretical work that strives to extend the understanding of evidentiality and temporality beyond explicit linguistic markers, and second to promote the approach adopted in this study as a useful complement to other methods used in interpretive discourse analysis

Rendering the ungraspable graspable : the use of metaphors in Swedish palliative cancer care

Good communication is of utmost importance in all forms of cancer care and especially so in the palliative context. To render the ungraspable graspable, metaphors are frequently used drawing on their capacity to capture the intangible in terms of more familiar experiences. For instance, to die from cancer can be described as ’coming to the end of a life journey’ or ’losing a battle’. Metaphors are largely language and culture specific. Today’s increasingly multicultural societies require particular awareness in order to achieve dignified, individualized palliative cancer care. This project aims to strengthen the scientific foundation for the use of metaphors in Swedish palliative cancer care. A secondary aim is to compare the use of metaphors in Sweden and the UK in order to reveal differences and similarities. Textual data are collected froma) internet-based blogs, where patients write about their illness-related emotions and experiences while being in palliative care, and fromb) interviews with patients, family and health care professionals, where the focus is to investigate what it means to live a dignified life in palliative care.The two sets of data are analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative linguistic methods. First, the Pragglejaz procedure, a well-established linguistic method for metaphor identification, is used in order to manually identify metaphorical expressions in the material, develop analytic categories adapted to the Swedish language data and ensure inter-rater reliability. Second, the material is approached by means of corpus linguistic methods. The combination of research methods is inspired by the UK-based MELC project. The data are currently being processed and the first results will be presented at the conference. The project is funded by The Kamprad Family Foundation, Sweden

Persuasiveness in the discourse of wine : The rhetoric of Robert Parker

The primary purpose of this study is to explore a case of remarkably powerful contemporary rhetoric, namely Robert Parker’s wine writing, which has had an unprecedented impact in the world of prestigious wine for more than two decades. Parker, an American autodidact who gave up his career in law to become a fulltime wine critic, is considered the most influential critic of all time. This background motivates the approach of the current enquiry, which targets the persuasiveness in Parker’s writing. The investigation strives to bring to the fore both explicit and implicit elements of his wine reviews that have the potential to contribute to rhetorical success. The material selected for analysis comprises a corpus of reviews extracted from Parker’s extensive bulk of wine writing. The texts are studied against the backdrop of socio-cultural and institutional frames. Considerable importance is assigned to the fact that the reviews occur within a strictly specialized field of discourse with a highly conventionalized configuration. This hermeneutic enquiry approaches the topic from three analytical perspectives, designed to highlight persuasiveness in representations, argumentation and appraisal. The presentation reports on schematic patterns in Parker’s discourse as well as close interpretation of individual texts. The analysis of representations shows that both visual and verbal representations contribute to the persuasiveness of the text. The argumentative exploration of Parker’s discourse, which is assisted by the analytical tools of pragma-dialectics, demonstrates that the reviews involve rational argumentation on several subordinate levels, given in support of assessments and recommendations. Finally, the perspective of appraisal draws on the analytical resources provided by the Appraisal model to shed light on the way in which the audience is positioned to respond with respect to emotional, associative and perceptual values. The results indicate that the persuasiveness of Parker’s discourse arises as a result of concordance among an intricate array of interrelated factors. The audience is recurrently demonstrated to play a crucial role as co-constructors of the message. The present study also has methodological outcomes, presenting a novel combination of analytical methods to perform contextually situated discourse analysis. In addition, the material is allowed to challenge the theoretical ideas and notions that are addressed

Optimising transparency, reliability and replicability: annotation principles and inter-coder agreement in the quantification of evaluative expressions

Manual corpus annotation facilitates exhaustive and detailed corpus-based analyses of evaluation that would not be possible with purely automatic techniques. However, manual annotation is a complex and subjective process. Most studies adopting this approach have paid insufficient attention to the methodological challenges involved in manually annotating evaluation - especially concerning transparency, reliability and replicability. This article illustrates a procedure for annotating evaluative expressions in text that facilitates more transparent, reliable and replicable analyses. The method is demonstrated through a case study analysis of APPRAISAL (Martin and White, 2005) in a small-size specialised corpus of CEO letters published by the British energy company, BP, and four competitors before and after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010. Drawing on Fuoli and Paradis's (2014) model of trust-repair discourse, we examine how ATTITUDE and ENGAGEMENT resources are strategically deployed by BP's CEO in the attempt to repair stakeholders' trust after the accident

‘It is completely ok to give up a little sometimes’ : Metaphors and Normality in Swedish Cancer Talk

The clichéd conceptualization of cancer illness as a battle, which the patient can either win or lose, can be problematic. For patients referred to palliative care, it can cause feelings of guilt and failure. This framing of cancer, here referred to as ‘the battle script’, has been questioned in previous research, and there seems to be awareness among health practitioners that battle metaphors should be avoided. The aim of this paper is to shed light on this battle script by examining the discursive dynamics of metaphor use in a large corpus of Swedish blogs written by terminally ill patients. The study focuses on two common linguistic metaphors, kämpa [fight/struggle] and ge upp [give up]. These expressions have the potential to actualize the battle script, but do not necessarily do so, due to their ambiguous meanings. By analyzing the contextualized meaning of these two metaphors, we illustrate the normality of the battle script as well as the problem to handle the perceived normativity of the script. We also discuss discursive strategies used by the bloggers to handle the negative implications of the battle script

We drink with our eyes first: The web of sensory perceptions, aesthetic experiences and mixed imagery in wine reviews

This chapter analyzes the language resources that writers have at their disposal to describe their experience of the web of sensory perceptions that are evoked in the wine tasting practice. The task of the writer is to provide a mental understanding of the sensations as well as a prehension of the experiences. We show that this involves the weaving together of the senses, starting with the sight of the wine followed by a description that is iconic with the wine tasting procedure. The descriptors are systematically used cross-modally both through ontological cross-overs and through longer stretches of mixed imagery. We also show how the socio-cultural context of wine consumption correlates with the types of imagery used in wine descriptions