Pragmatic intensification as an argumentative strategy in the speech by the King of Spain Felipe VI

Abstract

This paper analyzes the pragmatic intensification as an argumentative strategy in the discourse delivered by the King of Spain Felipe VI on October 3rd, 2017, two days after the illegal independence referendum held in Catalonia on October 1st. The analysis of the different intensifying mechanisms, governed by the expressive and appellative functions in illocutionary and perlocutionary speech acts, shows, in the global discursive strategy, the confrontation between the constitutionalist and the independence ideologies.