Crucial communication

a dialogical rhetorical approach to communicative practice

Abstract

This article proposes the concept of Crucial Communication, drawing on the work of Grenny et al. (2023), and defines it as interactions in which two or more individuals engage with sensitive or polemical issues, characterized by divergent perspectives, significant interests, and intense emotional involvement. The study seeks to identify the elements that allow for the formulation of a concept capable of integrating discourse studies, rhetorical argumentation, and polemics, thereby strengthening discursive practice. It is based on the hypothesis that crucial communication may function as an integrative concept, articulating theory and practice in a dialogical and accessible manner. The discussion is grounded in postdoctoral research (2024–2025) conducted within the Graduate Program in Philology and Portuguese Language at the University of São Paulo, under the supervision of Professor Dr. Maria Inês Batista Campos Noel Ribeiro. The objectives included proposing the concept of crucial communication, constructing its theoretical foundation, and reflecting on a discursive ethics oriented toward interactions marked by high relevance and risk. The methodology is exploratory, theoretical, and qualitative, relying on a literature review and on the systematization of conceptual statements that support the viability of the proposed concept. The theoretical framework is anchored in the perspective of dialogical rhetorical analysis, resulting from the intersection of Bakhtin’s dialogism (2010; 2011; 2013) and Volóchinov’s contributions (2017a; 2017b), the New Rhetoric of Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca (2005), and discursive approaches developed by Paveau (2017) and Charaudeau (2008), as well as by Nascimento (2018; 2024a; 2024b). The article argues that crucial communication cannot be reduced to mediation techniques, but should be understood as a situated discursive practice capable of guiding interlocutors in contexts of tension, relevance, and emotional involvement, fostering ethical negotiations of meanings, values, and interpretations.