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Article In: Pragmatics and Society: Online-First Articles

Inclusion, presupposition, and pragmatic markers

Functions of guardare ‘look’ and vedere ‘see’ in Italian parliamentary debates

ORCiD logo with link | University of Bergamo
 | University of Bergamo
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Abstract
This paper investigates the use of pragmatic markers (PMs) derived from the Italian verbs of visual perception guardare ‘look’ and vedere ‘see’ in contemporary parliamentary debates. Drawing on data from the ParlaMint 2.1 corpus, it analyses PMs role in stance-taking, inclusive positioning, and persuasion. More specifically, it argues that these markers are best understood through the lens of pragmatic presupposition as they help manage felicity conditions and common ground by framing contents as shared, accessible, or readily accommodable. Guardare typically prompts active engagement and frames upcoming discourse as interactionally relevant. Vedere, by contrast, more often presents ideologically loaded content as self-evident, thereby softening potentially risky moves such as attacks or self-praise. These differences reflect the lexical semantics and actional profiles of the two verbs, and show how perception-based PMs can be strategically exploited for rhetorical purposes in institutional discourse.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The inclusive role of pragmatic presupposition in parliamentary debates
  • 3.Verbs of visual perception as PMs in political discourse
  • 4.Corpus and methodology
  • 5.Data analysis
    • 5.1Guardare in parliamentary debates
    • 5.2Vedere in parliamentary debates
  • 6.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • Author queries
  • References
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