Promisiunea și jurământul – câteva repere teoretice
Promises and Oaths – Some Theoretical Landmarks

Summary/Abstract: The present paper aims to analyse from a pragmalinguistic point of view the promise and the oath as discursive genres located at the individual level of language. We take into consideration the mechanisms by which they are constituted and the functions they update in communication. To promise and to swear are two performative verbs with semantic repercussions on the success or failure of communication. They not only have a simple role to play in “how to do things with words”, but they also lead the way in fulfilling the commitments that, once verbalized, become part of the world around them. The violation of promises and oaths “flagellates” the language regarding the two verbs mentioned above because they announce exactly this judgement: the transformation of language into an act of creation. The consequences of non-compliance with this moral law may also affect the receiver: whoever commits perjury is rejected by the community they used to belong to.

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