Rhetorical Strategies of Self-Defence in Varujan Vosganian’s Parliamentary Speech (February 12, 2015)
Rhetorical Strategies of Self-Defence in Varujan Vosganian’s Parliamentary Speech (February 12, 2015)

Summary/Abstract: One of the less examined species of the Romanian parliamentary discourse is the apologia (a self-defence discourse) which resorts to various rhetorical strategies in order to promote a positive self-image of a politician and to reject an accusation. In this article, we offer the case study of Varujan Vosganian’s plead delivered to the Romanian Parliament on the 12th of February 2015 in response to the 2nd round of charges made by the Public Prosecution Service (Departamentul Național Anticorupție), i.e. establishment of organized crime group, abuse in office, complicity to embezzlement. Our analysis, based on the methodology of image repair rhetoric (Ware/Linkugel 1973; Benoit 1995) and the pragma-stylistics of discourse, will focus on the speaker’s stance, and on several reformative and transformative rhetorical strategies, such as the transcendence, the appeal to motives/good intentions, the minimization of injury, the attack of the accuser, the self-victimization, etc.

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