“Did Senator Arruda consult, require or command?” An analysis of the speech acts used at a Senate judgment

Abstract

A recent event marked Brazilian history: the judgment of two influential senators accused of violating the secrecy of the senate electronic voting panel. In the media coverage of the event, the use of three speech acts played a prominent role: “to consult”, “to request” and “to command.” Thus, in this article these speech acts and their illocutionary force are analyzed, together with an investigation on how the choice for each speech act did influence the outcome of the events.