UNE ASTUCE DISCURSIVE À VISÉE PERSUASIVE : L’AUTONÉGATION DE l’EXPERTISE
A DISCURSIVE TIP WITH A PERSUASIVE AIM: THE SELF-NEGATION OF EXPERTISE

Summary/Abstract: It is commonly accepted that speakers use various discursive strategies in their communication exchanges to convey their message as effectively as possible. In this context, this study focuses on a recurring discursive strategy in everyday language practice, namely the use by speakers of the statement I am not (an) expert…but….in order to make the audience commit to their standpoints. If, in general, speakers use the argument from authority and bring forth an expert summoned to increase the acceptability of their thesis, in this case, we are dealing with the negation of their own expertise, which makes it possible to advance a point of view without any constraint to establish an authority. The hypothesis to be validated is that this discursive strategy contributes, on the one hand, to the construction of a positive ethos of the speaker and, on the other hand, to annihilating any attack on the speaker and on his status which legitimizes him to put forward the respective standpoint. The main objective of this exploratory work is to highlight the functioning of this discursive strategy in close connection with the rhetorical and argumentative stakes to which it pertains. Moreover, the study aims at answering the following question: how is actualized, in the various contexts subjected to the analysis, the initial scheme I am not (an) expert…but….?

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