Interrogación y argumentación en la Carta Atenagórica de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

Abstract

A review of the argumentative studies of the Athenagoric Letter reveals that certain strategies, such as interrogative sentences, have not been analyzed. Using the Toulmin model, the article explores the function of those sentences from a pragmatic perspective, in order to identify their intention and argumentative impact on the text. The structural analysis also identifies the rhetorical style used by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz to respond to her opponents, as well as her right as a person, a woman, and a nun to speak and defend her thesis, that is, her right to be an interlocutor in the discourse of the period. In conclusion, interrogative sentences are another facet of the stylistic form used by the Tenth Muse to create her discursive defense.