Resumen

CISNERO, Mariela  y  GALLUCCI, María José. ‘A Political Triumph amid an Electoral Defeat.’ An Argumentative Analysis of Opinion Texts by the Venezuelan Opposition . Núcleo [online]. 2008, vol.20, n.25, pp.79-102. ISSN 0798-9784.

The main objective of this study is to describe, from the point of view of Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 1989, 1992, 1995; van Dijk, 1999, 2000; Wodak & Meyer, 2003), the argumentation techniques and discursive strategies present in a sample of the Venezuelan political discourse. The analysis of the different forms of persuasion used by Venezuelan opposition political actors is mainly based on the postulates of the New Rhetoric of Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca (1989) and on the strategic functions proposed by Chilton and Schäffner (2000). For this purpose, four opinion articles, published during the week following the reelection of Hugo Chávez, in December 2006, were analyzed. The study not only shows how the authors of these articles use discursive strategies and argumentative techniques but also, by means of repeatedly basing their arguments on the structure of what is real, their need to create, through argumentation, a connection between an admitted judgment (a real fact, in this case an electoral defeat) and one that tries to be promoted (a political triumph).

Palabras clave : argumentation; Critical Discourse Analysis; strategic functions; political discourse.