PERSUASIVE STRATEGIES OF THE CONCEPT “WATER” (SUV) IN TEXTS CALLING FOR WATER CONSERVATION

Abstract

The article analyses the persuasive strategies associated with the concept “water” (suv) in Uzbek official and journalistic texts that call for water conservation. The material comprises six texts published in 2022–2026 on a government agency website, by a news agency and in the media. Drawing on Aristotle’s modes of persuasion (logos, ethos, pathos), S. Toulmin’s model of argument and the theory of deontic modality, eight strategies are identified: the axiom of life, the rights-and-duty frame, deontic means, the inclusive subject, the future frame, numerical and economic evidence, appeals to tradition and religious values, and the metaphor of a precious object. The inclusive subject occurs in all six texts, while deontic means and the future frame occur in five. Informational-analytical texts rely on numerical evidence and impersonal deontic constructions, whereas journalistic essays rely on proverbs, religious notions and metaphors.