Macrostructure and Argumentative Relations. The Persuasive Function of the Exordium in Una historia de España

Abstract

This article aims to demonstrate the persuasive function of the exordium in the columns that make up the volume Una historia de España. After introducing the concept of exordium developed in classical rhetoric and in Perelman/Olbrechts-Tyteca (1989), the textual typology of the opinion columns and the work under study will be presented. The analysis will show that the opening sequences of the texts in the selected corpus contain elements such as the cataphoric function, the construction of the locutor’s image, the relationship with the recipient, and the strategic use of register, configuring them as the most important segment in building the macrostructure of a successful persuasive discourse (Lo Cascio 2009).