propositivi

Propositivi is a term found mainly in Italian scholarly writing, used to refer to items related to propositions or propositional content. It is not common in everyday language, where terms such as proposizioni (propositions) or contenuto proposizionale (propositional content) are more frequently employed. The word derives from propositivo, meaning related to proposing, presenting, or relating to a proposition.

In philosophy and logic, propositivi denote the content of statements—i.e., what a declarative sentence asserts or commits us to as true or false. In discussions of propositional attitudes, the term is sometimes used to refer to the propositions themselves toward which beliefs, desires, or other attitudes are directed. For example, in the sentence “John believes that it is raining,” the proposition that it is raining is the propositional content associated with the attitude of belief. Thus propositivi can be seen as the linguistic or semantic expressions of proposition-like content.

In linguistics and semantics, propositivi are central to distinguishing what a sentence conveys (propositional content) from how it is said (mood, force, or illocutionary act). Researchers study how modifiers, context, and expressive devices affect the interpretation of the propositional content, as well as how stance, certainty, or commitment is encoded toward those propositions.

Terminology varies, and in many contexts scholars prefer mais use of “proposizioni” or “contenuto proposizionale” to avoid ambiguity. Propositivi as a labeled category thus appears primarily in specialized discussions of logic, philosophy of language, and theoretical linguistics.