Cover -- Table of contents -- Preface -- References -- Listening and silence in communication: reflections on two texts -- 1. Messages between production and understanding -- 2. An unbalanced perspective: a few reasons why -- 3. Eddo Rigotti's research between speaking and listening -- 4. A text by Plato -- 5. A text by Jakobson -- 6. Conclusions -- References -- The evocative and transformative power of words -- References -- Intercomprehension and receptive skills in Italian for enhancing the individual's multilingual repertoire in quadrilingual Switzerland -- 1. The sociolinguistic context of quadrilingual Switzerland -- 1.1 Societal and individual plurilingualism -- 1.2 Italian in Switzerland -- 2. Language competences in Switzerland: receptive skills and inter-comprehension -- 3. The CIR project -- 3. 1 The aims of the project -- 3.2 The four keys to comprehension -- 3.2.1 The first key: the context -- 3.2.2 The second key: the co-text -- 3.2.3 The third key: the shared lexicon -- 3.2.4 The fourth key: word formation -- 3.2.5 The application of the four keys -- 4. Conclusion -- References -- Good reasons for good manners. An argumentative foundation of courtesy in Giovanni Della Casa's Galateo -- 1. Premises -- 1.1 A reasoned approach to good manners -- 1.2 Strategic arrangement of the text for irony effect -- 2. An argumentative perspective -- 2.1 Theoretical framing -- 2.2 Reasons for writing the Galateo: analytical overview -- 2.3 AMT analysis of an argument based on final cause -- 3. Man and society: a positive relation at the basis of courtesy -- 4. Compatibility between the Galateo and other models of politeness -- 4.1 Goffman quoting Della Casa -- 4.2 From conflictive to cooperative interaction -- 4.2.1 Brutally sincere or sincerely brutal? -- 4.2.2 Politeness as mitigation and modulation -- 5. Conclusions -- References.

The narrative structure of dreams -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Methodological issues and the background of studies on story-like organization of dreams -- 3. Story-like organization as intrinsic feature of dream experience -- 4. Which dream experience is usually recalled in the everyday life? -- References -- Metaphors and metaforms: interconnecting language, culture and cognition -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Figurative language -- 3. Metaform theory -- References -- Analyzing contextualized argumentative discourse: strengthening the relationship between Rigotti's aspirations and pragma-dialectics -- 1. A joint interest in the contextual dimension of argumentation -- 2. From ideal model to argumentative reality -- 3. The conventionalization of communicative activity types -- 4. The impact of institutional preconditions for strategic manoeuvring -- 5. Argumentative patterns determined by the institutional macro-context -- 6. Pragma-dialectical studies into argumentation in context -- References -- Arguments for forgiveness. A pragmatic-argumentative note on apologies -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Standpoints arising from non-assertive speech acts -- 3. Analyzing apologies in terms of pragmatic predicates -- 3.1 The pragmatic predicate Apologize -- 3.2 Apologies and the pragmatic predicate Forgive -- 3.3 An afterthought on the cultural relativity of apologies -- 4. Apologies and arguments -- 5. Apologies in Russian language: a glance to the cross-cultural dimension -- 5.1 The pragmatic predicates izvini/izivinite and prosti/prostite -- 6. Conclusions -- References -- Argumentation in institutional founding documents.The case of Switzerland's Foedus Pactum -- 1. Introduction -- 2. The institution's raison d'être as an argumentative endoxon -- 3. The Foedus Pactum: towards an argumentative analysis -- 4. The justification of the alliance.

5. "Noverint igitur universi" -- 6. Concluding remarks -- References -- Appendix I: the original Latin version of the Foedus Pactum (first part) -- Appendix II: the English translation of the Foedus Pactum -- Do languages "really" exist or are they mere discursive constructions? -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Standard languages -- 3. Social representations of languages -- 4. Conceptions of multilingualism -- 5. Conclusions -- References -- Argumentation schemes and topical relations -- 1. Argumentative inferences and the meaning of a discourse move -- 2. Natural arguments and topics -- 3. Types of reasoning, ontological connections, and natural arguments -- a. Specific topoi -- b. Generic topoi -- c. Forms of inferences and types of reasoning -- 4. Imperfect bridges -- a. Causal relations and causal arguments -- b. Classifications and arguments from definitions -- c. Authority and arguments from authority -- d. Argumentation schemes and levels of abstraction -- 5. Conclusion -- References -- Attention in context: from Ancient rhetoric to contemporary communication sciences -- 1. The roots of the concept -- 2. Attention in communication sciences -- 3. Attention in rhetoric -- 4. Attention and communicative context -- 5. Drawing the audience's attention -- 6. Conclusions -- References -- About the functions of the passive -- References -- Causality and non-iconic order -- 1. Introduction -- 2. The main hypothesis -- 3. Some basic semantic properties of parce que -- 4. Parce que, causality and argumentation -- 5. Conclusion -- References -- Children and knowledge-oriented argumentation. Some notes for future research -- 1. Observing children's argumentation in a research setting -- 2. Formal settings, argumentation, and role expectations -- 3. Implicit in children in informal settings -- 4. An invitation to further research -- References.

Extending presuppositions to discourse: a tribute to Eddo Rigotti -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Introducing discursive presuppositions -- 3. Concluding perspectives -- References -- A possible reflection of the painter (Jan van Eyck) in the Ghent Altarpiece -- References -- Argumentation, causality and narrativity in Fernand Braudel's The Mediterranean -- References -- Appendix: French text of quotations (1) to (16).