This project aims to develop a high-precision method for representing the linguistic and pragmatic aspects of persuasive discourse. For this purpose, the formal toolbox of Constructive Adpositional Grammars (CxAdGrams) is combined with the argument classification framework of the Periodic Table of Arguments (PTA) and associated rhetorical theories of interpreting persuasive discourse. Reflecting the well-known rhetorical distinction between inventio and elocutio, the Adpositional Rhetoric (AdRhet) project consists of subprojects on Adpositional Argumentation (AdArg) and Adpositional Stylistics (AdStyle). We are specifically interested in providing a rigorous description of linguistic phenomena in the form of models that capture their essence and are suitable for both human and machine processing, with potential connections to psycholinguistics and cognitive sciences.
Student projects
Supervised by Federico Gobbo and Jean Wagemans
Nikki Beyer kicked off the Adpositional Stylistics (AdStyle) subproject by demonstrating how the adpositional framework is suitable for representing verbal irony. By transposing insights from traditional theories to the adpositional paradigm, she formalized the abstract concept of irony and applied the formalization to several concrete examples. The conclusions of the tutorial paper suggest further potential for AdStyle in representing the linguistic and pragmatic aspects of stylistic figures.
Thomas de With extended the Adpositional Argumentation (AdArg) framework by showing how to represent political argumentation on Twitter in adpositional trees. The pilot study focused on recent tweets from Dutch political parties across the political spectrum. Communicative moves such as hashtags, retweeting, and mentioning can now be included in the analysis of argumentative discourse on this platform.
Activities and publications
Book chapter – Gobbo, F., Benini, M., & Wagemans, J.H.M. (2023). More than relata refero: Representing the various roles of reported speech in argumentative discourse. In S. Oswald (Ed.) Pragmatics and Argumentation (pp. 45-55). Basel etc.: MDPI. Reprinted from: Languages 2022, 7, 59. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/languages7010059.
Seminar Talk – F. Gobbo & N. Beyer (2023). Current developments in adpositional argumentation. LANCAR Seminar. University of Amsterdam, June 23, 2023.
Journal article – Gobbo, F., Benini, M., & Wagemans, J.H.M. (2023). The logic of the arguer: Representing natural argumentative discourse in Adpositional Argumentation. Journal of Applied Logics, 10(3), 451-483.
Conference Abstract – Gobbo, F., Benini, M., & Wagemans, J.H.M. (2022). How logic originates in natural argumentative discourse. In M. Gattinger, N. Gierasimczuk & S. Smets (Eds.), Logic4Peace Book of Abstracts (pp. 8-9). Amsterdam: ILLC.
Conference Talk – F. Gobbo, M. Benini & J.H.M. Wagemans (2022). How logic originates in natural argumentative discourse. Logic4Peace conference, University of Amsterdam. April 22, 2022. MORE INFO
Journal Article – Gobbo, F., Benini, M., & Wagemans, J.H.M. (2022). More than relata refero: Representing the various roles of reported speech in argumentative discourse. Languages, 7(59), 1-11. MORE INFO
Workshop paper – Gobbo, F., Benini, M., & Wagemans, J.H.M. (2021). Complex arguments in Adpositional Argumentation. In M. D’Agostino, F.A. D’Asaro & C. Larese (Eds.), Proceedings of the Workshop on Advances in Argumentation in Artificial Intelligence (AI^3 2021), co-located with the 19th International Conference of the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence (AIxIA 2021), Milan, November 29, 2021. MORE INFO
Workshop Talk – F. Gobbo, M. Benini & J.H.M. Wagemans (2021). Complex Arguments in Adpositional Argumentation. 5th Workshop on Advances in Argumentation in Artificial Intelligence (AI3 2021). Milano-Bicocca, Italy, 29 November 2021. MORE INFO
Workshop Talk – F. Gobbo (2021). Adpositional Argumentation (AdArg) so far. Intergroup meeting of the COST Action CA 17132: “European network for Argumentation and Public PoLicY analysis” (APPLY). University of Côte d’Azur, France, 28 October 2021. MORE INFO
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Conference Paper – Gobbo, F., & Wagemans, J.H.M. (2020). Representing second-order arguments with Adpositional Argumentation (AdArg). In C. Dutilh Novaes, H. Jansen, J.A. van Laar & B. Verheij (Eds.), Reason to dissent: Proceedings of the 3rd European Conference on Argumentation, Volume II (pp. 315-326). London: College Publications.
Conference Talk – F. Gobbo & J.H.M. Wagemans (2020). From climate change to emergency: The Adpositional Argumentation of Greta Thunberg’s speech in Paris. Reasons, citizens and institutions: International conference on argumentation and public policy. University of Wrocław, March 4, 2020.
Journal Article – Gobbo, F., Benini, M., & Wagemans, J.H.M. (2019). Annotation with Adpositional Argumentation: Guidelines for building a Gold Standard Corpus of argumentative discourse. Intelligenza Artificiale, 13(2), 155-172.
Conference Paper – Gobbo, F., & Wagemans, J.H.M. (2019). Adpositional Argumentation (AdARg): A new method for representing linguistic and pragmatic information about argumentative discourse. In S. Doutre & T. de Lima (Eds.), Actes 13èmes Journées d’Intelligence Artificielle Fondamentale (JIAF 2019) (pp. 101-107). Association française pour l’Intelligence Artificielle.
Conference Talk – F. Gobbo & J.H.M. Wagemans (2019). Adpositional Argumentation (AdArg). 13èmes Journées d’Intelligence Artificielle Fondamentale (JIAF 2019). Toulouse, July 2, 2019.
Conference Talk – F. Gobbo & J.H.M. Wagemans (2019). Representing second-order arguments. 3rd European Conference on Argumentation (ECA 2019). Groningen, June 25, 2019.
Conference Paper – Gobbo, F., & Wagemans, J.H.M. (2019). Building argumentative adpositional trees: Towards a high precision method for reconstructing arguments in natural language. In B.J. Garssen, D. Godden, G.R. Mitchell & J.H.M. Wagemans (Eds.), Proceedings of the Ninth Conference of the International Society for the Study of Argumentation (pp. 408-420). Amsterdam: SIC SAT.
Workshop Paper – Gobbo, F., & Wagemans, J.H.M. (2019). A method for reconstructing first-order arguments in natural language. In P. Dondio & L. Longo (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2nd Workshop on Advances in Argumentation in Artificial Intelligence (AI^3 2018), co-located with the 17th International Conference of the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence (AI*IA 2018), Trento, Italy, November 20-23, 2018 (pp. 27-41). Aachen: Sun SITE Central Europe.
Workshop Talk – F. Gobbo & J.H.M. Wagemans (2018). A method for reconstructing first-order arguments in natural language. AI³ 2018, 2nd Workshop on Advances in Argumentation in Artificial Intelligence co-located with XVII Conference of the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence (AI*IA 2018). Trento, November 20, 2018.
Conference Talk – F. Gobbo & J.H.M. Wagemans (2018). Representing first-order arguments in argumentative adtrees. 9th ISSA Conference on Argumentation. University of Amsterdam, July 3, 2018.
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