A Linguistic Analysis of the Performative Power of Repentance: Speech Acts in the Tuscan and Neapolitan Versions of Augustine’s Soliloquies

The 15th century witnessed the proliferation of vernacular religious translations in Italy. The Soliloquies attributed to John of Fécamp (11th c.), examined in the manuscripts from Siena (I.II.25) and Naples (Ms. VI D 45), exemplify this trend. These texts, marked by their heightened emotionality compared to Augustine’s 4th-century Soliloquies, foreshadowed subsequent developments. This research investigates the performative aspects of speech acts within these manuscripts, focusing on the expression of repentance and supplication. While an act of acknowledgment is not inherently performative, its function alters within the religious context of prayer. The illocutionary force of confession, directed towards the divine, imbues the act of acknowledgment with performative characteristics. At the perlocutionary level, the acknowledgment functions as a performative utterance, aiming to elicit divine forgiveness, foster internal purification, and facilitate spiritual restoration. Consequently, the act of acknowledgment transcends a mere factual statement, morphing into an act of repentance, thereby instigating an internal transformation within the speaker.