Apte dicere: epistemic phrases and facework in Cicero’s oratorical works

In this contribution I propose a survey of the use of epistemic “parenthetic” expressions in Cicero's oratorical production (ut opinor, ut arbitror, credo, ut mea opinio fert, ut mihi videtur, mea sententia etc.). As is well known, the use of such linguistic resources can respond to multiple needs, including, of course, the more properly epistemic-evidential ones, of highlighting the subjective dimension of assertions and the degree of certainty that the speaker assigns to them; but equally important, especially in the parenthetic form, are other effects, pragmatic in nature. Epistemic modalization may in fact modify the illocutionary force of the utterance or a part of it, in the direction of limiting the statement, or of emphasizing it, with effects on the image of the participants in the interaction. Mostly dialogic, resources of this kind have indeed a considerable relevance in the oratio, where they can be exploited to construct the speaker's image (or persona), gaining him approval and making his arguments more persuasive. The examination of the wide repertoire of expressions found in Cicero’s speeches shows the peculiar use he makes of this class of phrases, and of their effects, varying between attenuation and boosting, for the sake of self-presentation.