Abstract

In the European Union, persuasion, i.e. the rhetorical influencing of people’s thinking, feeling and acting, is becoming more and more important. On an international level, this often leads to a clash between different traditions of argumentation, also in the media. But we have only limited know­ledge of the typical models of persuasive communication in the different media of the European countries.

The project will concentrate on commentaries in newspapers and electronic media.

Media from these countries will be investigated: Finland, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, France, Belgium, England, Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece, Latvia.

The project will give answers to questions like these:

How do commentaries appear in the different media? What is their relation to other types of texts / genres?

What textual models of commentaries are to be found , and what are their features in the different discourse communities?

How can these differences be explained? How can conflicts be avoided?