GIGLIOLA SACERDOTI MARIANI

Il linguaggio delle 'passioni' nel «Federalista» 

N. 1/1987

Summary — 'Persuasion' seems to be the main purpose of The Federalist, of those 85 political, philosophical and juridical essays - or 'orations', as the writer of this paper would call them - that were published in 1787/88, in order "to recommend" the Constitution and invite "the people of the State of New York" to ratify it. Actually, what gave great persuasive power to the 'orations' of The Federalist was - according to Professor Sacerdoti Mariani - the language used by Publius. He was probably familiar with the works and teachings of Aristotle and Cicero; in all likelihood he knew the rules of classical rhetoric and used them to 'ornament' his speeches, to make them memorable, to reach and 'move' a 1arge audience.

In particular, Professor Sacerdoti Mariani maintains that in the many passages where Publius condemns all sorts of 'passions' (ambition, jealousy, avarice, resentment, envy, etc.) which give rise to the "factious behaviour" of the antifederalists, the linguistic features - both intersentential and intrasentential - the recurrent rhetorical devices or figures of speech are meant to 'move', to 'persuade' the people of the State of New York that "the establishment of a Constitution in time of profound peace is a prodigy ".

According to the author of this paper, particular attention was given by Hamilton, Madison and Jay to some strategies of self-presentation, which included an alternate use of first person singular/first person plural markers, that helped underline their role as representatives of more or less inclusive collective bodies and shared values.

Also the choice of certain lexemes, the reiteration and juxtaposition of contrastive pairs (nouns and adjectives), the use of iconically and resonantly rich terms, of metaphors, anaphoras, the insistence on rhymes and allitterations are all strategies - or linguistic 'passions' - that play an important part in the effectiveness of the political message and reinforce the idea of a trustwortly 'federalist group'.