Communicative acts conveying argumentative moves

Argumentative moves can be conveyed by various types of communicative acts. In these communicative acts, they can be expressed in a great many ways, which often deviate from the prototypical standard formulations of the various argumentative moves. To overcome the Natural Communication Predicament that people express themselves in natural languages hardly ever completely unambiguously, a careful reconstructive analysis of argumentative discourse is required, in which pragmatic insights in the communication process are brought to bear. Arguers may be assumed to do their utmost to maneuver strategically by making choices that optimally serve their purposes. Analysts of argumentative discourse are to make an effort to reveal the strategic rationale of the arguers’ argumentative moves. Although argumentative moves are in a great many cases not explicitly presented as such, the discourse often contains certain indicators of argumentative moves that can be of help in its interpretation. A special problem of analyzing argumentative discourse is that in argumentative practice, it is quite common that premises or standpoints are left unexpressed. These unexpressed elements can be identified and reconstructed with the aid of the Communication Principle, the communication commitments, and – in the case of unexpressed premises and standpoints – some basic principles of logic.