Cover not available

Article published In: Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 5:3 (2006) ► pp.305–324

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

“Parlare senza dirlo” — or — “Speaking without saying it”

The diathetically conditioned deletion of complements as a rhetorical device

 | University of Innsbruck
Published online: 8 December 2006
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.5.3.03dan
This article is in the first place about the syntactic variants allowing for the elimination of those complements which do appear in active as opposed to passive, in causative as opposed to recessive and in personal as opposed to impersonal constructions in Italian (and other Romance languages). In the second place we will have a close look at why and when these variants seem to be preferably used in political speeches. On many occasions the political orator obviously opts not to state explicitly who the agent responsible for an action is and therefore linguistically resorts to a passive, a recessive or an impersonal construction. Our theses will be supported by excerpts from speeches by Mussolini, delivered between 1938 and 1944. Mussolini’s personality must have been an extremely complex and contradictory one. It is, among other things, these diathetical variants allowing for the elimination of complements which made it possible for him to conceal from his audiences how far he was away from his original socialist ideals once he was in power.
References (42)
References
Ágel, Vilmos. 1995. Valenzrealisierung, Grammatik und Valenz. Zeitschrift für germanistische Linguistik 231, 2—32. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Albrecht, Jörn. 1993. Reflexivität, Medialität und Ergativität im Romanischen und Deutschen. In: Giovanni Rovere and Gerd Wotjak (eds). Studien zum romanisch-deutschen Sprachvergleich. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 259—275. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blinkhorn, Martin 1984. Mussolini and Fascist Italy. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blumenthal, Peter and Rovere, Giovanni 1998. Wörterbuch der italienischen Verben. Stuttgart: Klett.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bondzio, Wilhelm. 1971 Valenz, Bedeutung und Satzmodelle. In: Gerhard Helbig (ed.). Beiträge zur Valenztheorie. The Hague: Mouton, 85—103. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bussmann, Hadumod 1996. Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coseriu, Eugenio. 1987. Grundzüge der funktionellen Syntax. In: Uwe Petersen (ed.). Eugenio Coseriu. Formen und Funktionen. Studien zur Grammatik. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 133—176.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Felice, Renzo 1965. Mussolini il rivoluzionario 1883—1920. Torino: Giulio Einaudi.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1968. Mussolini il fascista. II. L'organizzazione dello Stato fascista 1925—1929. Torino: Giulio Einaudi.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dik, Simon C. 1997. The Theory of Functional Grammar. Part 1: The Structure of the Clause. Berlin: de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fici Giusti, Francesca. 1998. Tra passivo e impersonale: la funzione del pronome clitico riflessivo. In: Hans Geisler and Daniel Jacob (eds). Transitivität und Diathese in romanischen Sprachen. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 61—72. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gili Gaya, Samuel. 1998. Curso superior de sintaxis española. Barcelona: Vox.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grice, H. P. 1975. Logic and Conversation. In: Peter Cole and Jerry L. L (eds). Syntax and Semantics. Volume 3. New York: Academic Press, 41—58.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gutiérrez Ordóñez, Salvador 2004. Gramática y modificaciones valenciales. In: Rolf Kailuweit and Martin Hummel (eds). Semantische Rollen. Tübingen: Narr, 143—167.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heringer, Hans J�rgen. 1984 Neues von der Verbszene. In: Gerhard Stickel (ed.). Pragmatik in der Grammatik. D�sseldorf: Schwann, 34—64.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Herslund, Michael. 2001. L'actant fondamental et les verbes sym�triques et r�fl�chis de l'ancien fran�ais. In: Lene Sch�sler (ed.). La valence, perspectives romanes et diachroniques. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 34—42.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Karolak, Stanislaw. 1986. Struttura Tema—Rema e frasi impersonali in italiano. In: Harro Stammerjohann (ed.). Tema—Rema in Italiano, Theme—Rheme in Italian, Thema-Rhema im Italienischen. Tübingen: Narr, 85—97.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kemmer, Suzanne. 1993. The Middle Voice. Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Koch, Peter. 1994. Valenz und Informationsstruktur im Sprachvergleich Italienisch—Deutsch. Italienisch 321, 38—58.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1995. Aktantielle 'Metataxe' und Informationsstruktur in der romanischen Verblexik Franz�sisch/Italienisch/Spanisch im Vergleich. In: Wolfgang Dahmen et al.. (eds). Konvergenz und Divergenz in den romanischen Sprachen. Tübingen: Narr, 115—137.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Koerberl-Habsheim, Willi. 1997. Erlebter Faschismus. Berg am Starnberger See: Druffel Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mack Smith, Denis. 1983. Mussolini. M�nchen: Carl Hauser Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marcos Mar�n, Francisco, Satorre Grau, F. Javier, and Viejo Sànchez, Ma Luisa 1999. Gramática española. Madrid: Síntesis.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mittermaier, Kar. 1995. Mussolinis Ende. Die Republik von Salò 1943—1945. München: Langen Müller.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Oesterreicher, Wulf. 1991. Verbvalenz und Informationsstruktur. In: Peter Koch and Thomas Krefeld (eds). Connexiones Romanicae. Dependenz und Valenz in romanischen Sprachen. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 349—384.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Salvi, Giampaolo and Vanelli, Laura 1992. Grammatica essenziale di riferimento della lingua italiana. Firenze: Le Monnier.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sànchez López, Cristina. 2002. Las construcciones con se . Estado de la cuestión. In: Cristina Sànchez López (ed.). Las construcciones con se. Madrid: Visor Libros, 13—163.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scheuer, Georg. 1996. Mussolinis langer Schatten. Marsch auf Rom im Nadelstreif. Köln: Neuer ISP-Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Siller-Runggaldier, Heidi. 2001a. Unpersönliche Konstruktionen mit transitivem Verb und nachgestellter Nominalphrase. Italienisch, Französisch und Zentralladinisch im Vergleich. In: Peter Wunderli, Iwar Werlen, and Matthias Grünert (eds). Italica—Raetica— Gallica. Studia linguarum litterarum artiumque in honorem Ricarda Liver. Tübingen: Francke, 595—614.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2001b. Semantik und Wortbildung: ihr Einfluss auf die Wortstel-lung im Italienischen. Romanistisches Jahrbuch 521, 63—80.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tesnière, Lucien. 1965. Élèments de syntaxe structurale. Paris: Klincksieck.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wehr, Barbara. 1993. Zum Subjekt in italienischen SE-Konstruktionen. In: Christian Schmitt, (ed.). Grammatikographie der romanischen Sprachen. Akten der gleichnamigen Sektion des Bamberger Romanistentages (23.—29. 9.1991). Bonn: Romanistischer Verlag, 627—647.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Welke, Klaus. 1988a. Einführung in die Valenz- und Kasustheorie, Leipzig: Bibliographisches Institut.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1988b. Grundvalenz. Der Ginko-Baum. Germanistisches Jahrbuch für Nord-europa81, 134—139.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1994. Thematische Relationen. Sind thematische Relationen semantisch, syntaktisch oder/und pragmatisch zu definieren? Deutsche Sprache 221, 1—18.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1997. Eine funktionalgrammatische Betrachtung zum Reflexivum: das Reflexivum als Metapher. Deutsche Sprache 251, 209—231.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2002. Deutsche Syntax funktional. Tübingen: Stauffenburg.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zingarelli, Nicola 2003. lo Zingarelli 2003. Bologna: Zanichelli.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Speeches
Mussolini, Benito. 1938a. L'" Anschluss ". In: Edoardo Susmel and Duilio Susmel (eds, edited in 1959), Dal viaggio in Germania all'intervento dell'Italia nella seconda guerra mondiale. (1 ottobre 1937—10 giugno 1940). Opera Omnia Di Benito Mussolini XXIX. Firenze: La Fenice, 67—71.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1938b. Discorso di Trieste. In: Edoardo Susmel and Duilio Susmel (eds, edited in 1959), Dal viaggio in Germania all'intervento dell'Italia nella seconda guerra mondiale. (1 ottobre 1937—10 giugno 1940). Opera Omnia Di Benito Mussolini XXIX. Firenze: La Fenice, 144—147.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1941. Il discorso al Teatro Adriano di Roma. In: Edoardo Susmel and Duilio Susmel (eds, edited in 1960), Dall'intervento dell'Italia nella seconda guerra mondiale al discorso al Direttorio Nazionale del P.N.F. del 3 gennaio 1942. (11 giugno 1940—3 gennaio 1942). Opera Omnia Di Benito Mussolini XXX. Firenze: La Fenice, 49—59.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1944. Il discorso al " Lirico " di Milano. In: Edoardo Susmel and Duilio Susmel (eds, edited in 1960), Dalla liberazione di Mussolini all'epilogo. La Repubblica Sociale Italiana. (13 settembre 1943—28 aprile 1945). Opera Omnia Di Benito Mussolini XXXII. Firenze: La Fenice, 126—139.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue