Maarten van Leeuwen is a University Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics. His expertise is in the domains of (linguistic) stylistics, argumentation theory and rhetoric.

More information about Maarten van Leeuwen

Research

My research interest concerns the argumentative and rhetorical consequences of linguistic choices, a.o. in the domain of politics. How do language users make use of linguistic choices to reach their argumentative goals? How do they formulate their arguments strategically? And how are linguistic choices used to create a political image? In order to investigate such questions, I integrate insights from linguistic stylistics, argumentation theory and rhetoric.

I am also interested in the ways in which people respond when being accused of saying something objectionable (i.e. something sexist, homophobic, racist, antisemitic, etc.). Together with Leiden colleagues I study the kind of strategies that people use to deny or diminish commitment to such utterances, and the reasonableness of such strategies.

Fields of interest

• Stylistics
• Argumentation
• Rhetoric
• Political discourse analysis
• Populism

Key publications

• Leeuwen M. van, Mulder H.N.M. de & Hollander A. den (2022), Valt de lezer om te turnen? Effecten van formuleringskeuzes in de zaak ‘Van Gelder', Tijdschrift voor Taalbeheersing 44(3): 156-175.
• Haaften T. van & Leeuwen M. van (2021), On the relation between argumentative style and linguistic style: integrating linguistic-stylistic analysis systematically into the analysis of argumentative style, Journal of Argumentation in Context 10(1): 97-120.
• Boogaart R.J.U., Jansen H. & Leeuwen M. van (2021), "Those are your words, not mine!" Defence strategies for denying speaker commitment, Argumentation 35: 209-235.
• Boogaart R.J.U., Jansen H. & Leeuwen M. van (Eds.) (2021), The Language of Argumentation. Argumentation Library: Springer.
• Leeuwen M. van (2019), Measuring people-centrism in populist political discourse: A linguistic approach. In: Zienkowski J. & Breeze R. (Eds.), Imagining the Peoples of Europe, Populist discourses across the political spectrum. Discourse approaches to politics, society and culture no. 83. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. 315-340.
• Leeuwen M. van (2018), Style and grammar in political discourse: complementation and its argumentative-rhetorical potential. In: Oswald S., Herman T. & Jacquin J. (Eds.), Argumentation and language - linguistic, cognitive and discursive explorations. Argumentation Library no. 32: Springer. 51-72.
• Leeuwen, M. van (2015). Stijl en politiek: een taalkundig-stilistische benadering van Nederlandse parlementaire toespraken. [Style and politics: a linguistic-stylistic approach to Dutch parliamentary speeches]. Utrecht: LOT. (Access the English summary).
• Leeuwen M. van (2014), Systematic stylistic analysis. The use of a checklist. In: Kaal B., Maks I. & Elfrinkhof A. van (Eds.), From Text to political Positions. Text analysis across disciplines. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 225-244.

Teaching activities

My teaching is on (linguistic) stylistics, argumentation theory and rhetoric. Courses I am currently teaching (in Dutch) are:

• The power of words: rhetorical effects of formulation choices
• Strategic presentation of argumentation
• Stylistics
• Rhetoric and Politics
• BA and MA thesis seminars

In addition, I am also an education coach of the Faculty of Humanities, offering support for (beginning) lecturers who are looking to improve their teaching skills.

Curriculum vitae

Publications