Eddo Rigotti - Ricerca all'USI

Eddo Rigotti´s first domains of interest were the formal linguistic theories developed within the tradition of categorial grammar by Soviet scientists (with particular focus on the Applicational Model of S.K. Shaumyan - Rigotti ed., 1970) and the semantic and pragmatic function of Italian determiners (Rigotti 1972). This latter research led him, in the following years, to studies aiming at a rigorous semantic and pragmatic definition of topic-focus articulation (Rigotti 1988). Meanwhile, he has developed an approach to the role of language in verbal communication that emphasizes the suppleness of the linguistic system and the importance of context-based inferencing. Work carried out in this perspective touched different linguistic levels, such as morphology, syntax, semantics and text theory (see Rigotti 2000 and Rigotti & Cigada 2004 for a synthesis).

During the last decade, his research focused on two main topics: on one hand, it aimed at studying the pragmatic basis of verbal communication, where he worked out an integrated semantic-pragmatic approach to discourse and dialogue grounded on the general theoretical framework of Congruity Theory (See Rigotti 1993, Rigotti & Rocci 2001b, Rigotti 2003a and Rigotti & Rocci 2004). On the other hand, a major strand of his research focused on the dynamics of argumentation and persuasive communication in professional contexts, as well as on argumentation and manipulation in political discourse.

At the theoretical level, he devoted a series of studies to the foundations of argumentation as reasonable persuasion (Rigotti 1995 and Rigotti 1998), taking into account both the contribution of ancient rhetoric (Rigotti 1997a) as well as recent developments of pragmatics and argumentation theory (Rigotti 1999) and focusing both on monological texts and dialogic interaction (Rigotti & Rocci 2004). At the applied level, he pursued the study of interpersonal communicative interaction and argumentation in professional communities at different levels. In the field of professional communication, he focused his research in particular on the banking sector (cf. Rigotti, Rocci, Tardini & Greco 2003) and on the advanced education and training sector (cf. Rigotti, Rocci & Greco 2003), including the teaching of advanced seminars for bank and education professionals.

Rigotti´s research activity in the last four years concentrates on the construction of a model (Argumentum) supporting the design and the production of argumentative interventions in specific interaction contexts (Finance, Public Institutions and Media). His most recent publications - Rigotti & Greco (2006), Rigotti (2006a), Rigotti (2006b) and Rigotti (in press) - are devoted to topics, a kernel component of the Argumentum model for supporting the identification, analysis and evaluation of arguments.