The pragmatic role of textual and interpersonal metadiscourse markers in the construction and attainment of persuasion: A cross-linguistic study of newspaper discourse

Abstract

This paper seeks to explore the role that metadiscourse markers play in the construction and attainment of persuasion. In a cross-linguistic perspective, two elite newspapers, the British The Times and the Spanish El País have been chosen, both because of their status and because of the political and rhetorical influence they exert in their respective national cultures. Based on the analysis of the textual and interpersonal markers found in a corpus of 40 opinion columns, 20 written in English and 20 in Spanish, this study aims to identify which metadiscourse categories predominate in this type of newspaper discourse and how they are distributed according to cross-cultural or cross-linguistic preferences. In addition, using a group of informants, this research has attempted to discover how metadiscourse operates as a persuasive mechanism in texts. Findings suggest that both textual and interpersonal metadiscourse markers are present in English and Spanish newspaper columns, but that there are variations as to the distribution and composition of such markers, specifically in the case of certain textual categories (i.e. logical markers and code glosses). Regarding the persuasive effect of metadiscourse, informants were in agreement that a balanced number of both textual and interpersonal markers was necessary to render the text persuasive and reader-oriented.