Gli atti commissivi: una strategia persuasiva nei discorsi politici italiani

This paper examines the theory of speech acts and its connection to persuasive strategies in political discourse. Developed by Austin (1962) and later refined by Searle (1969), the theory suggests that “saying something” involves performing three simultaneous acts: a locutionary act (the production of meaningful sounds), an illocutionary act (expressing the speaker's intended force or purpose), and a perlocutionary act (the impact on the listener's feelings, thoughts, or actions). Austin (1962) classified speech acts into five categories: verdictives, exercitives, commissives, behabitives, and expositives. Searle (1969) later proposed an alternative categorization with five types: assertives, commissives, directives, declaratives, expressives. The paper highlights the pragmatic nature of political discourse, which aims to persuade and influence audiences through illocutionary intention (conveying purpose) and perlocutionary intention (producing effects). Focusing on commissive speech acts, particularly promises, it analyzes how three Italian politicians—Luigi Di Maio, Matteo Renzi, and Matteo Salvini—used this strategy during the 2018 electoral campaign. The study emphasizes the importance of pragmatics in political communication, shedding light on the mechanisms of persuasion in this context.