Performative - Glottopedia

文章推薦指數: 80 %
投票人數:10人

In the context of Austin's theory of speech acts "performative" was applied to those utterances which are used to perform an act instead of ... Performative FromGlottopedia Jumptonavigation Jumptosearch Theterm"Performative"wasintroducedbyJohnLangshawAustin(1911-1960)inhisphilosophicallecturesHowtodothingswithwords(1962),whichwaspublishedtwoyearsafterhisdeath.InthecontextofAustin'stheoryofspeechacts"performative"wasappliedtothoseutteranceswhichareusedtoperformanactinsteadofdescribingit.Performativeutterancesthusstandinoppositiontoconstativeutterances,whicharestatementsoffacts. Contents 1JohnL.AustinandhisTheoryofSpeechActs 1.1Constatives 1.2Performatives 1.2.1PerformativeVerbs 1.2.2ExplicitPerformativesandPrimaryUtterances 2FelicityConditions 2.1Misfires 2.2Abuses 3ProblemswithPerformatives 4Links 5References JohnL.AustinandhisTheoryofSpeechActs Languageisnotonlyusedtodescribetheworld.InhisWilliamJameslecturesdeliveredatHarvardUniversityin1955(titled:Howtodothingswithwords),Austincriticizestheviewthatthemainpurposeofsentenceswouldbetostatefactsortodescribesomestateofaffairsaseithertrueorfalse.Hearguesagainst Wikipedia:logicalpositivism(English),whichretainstheviewthattheonlymeaningfulstatementsarethosethatareverifiable(cf.Austin1976:2).Instead,Austinclaimsthatsuchtruth-evaluablesentencesonlyconstituteonetypeofutterance,pointingoutthatthereareothertypesofutteranceswhichareneithertruenorfalse,butnonethelessmeaningful.Hecallsthissecondtypeofutterance"performative".Performativesareusedtocarryoutanaction.Inthattheydifferfromothertypesofdeclarativesentences(constatives)whichonlydescribetheworld(constatives)insystematicways.Onthesyntacticlevel,however,bothperformativesandconstativestakethegrammaticalformofdeclarativesentences.Austinreviseshistheoryconsiderablyinthecourseofhislecturesandeventuallyreplacesthedichotomy‘performative’vs.‘constative’withamoregeneraltheoryofspeechactswhichregardseveryutteranceasatypeofaction.ThistheoryofspeechactsislaterelaboratedbyAustin’sstudentJohnR.Searle. Constatives Constativeutterancesdescribestatesofaffairswhichareeithertrueorfalse.Theyareutteranceswhichdescribetheworldandinsodoingascertainorstatesomething.Constativesmostly(thoughnotnecessarily)havetheformofdeclarativesentences,theyrefertotheactofsayingsomething,and,asmentionedabove,theyaretruth-evaluableoratleastpurporttodescribereality(cf.Petrey1990:4). ExamplesofConstatives Snowiswhite.(true) Snowisred.(false) Performatives Performativeutterancesoftentaketheformofdeclarativesentenceswithwhichthespeakerperformstheactiondenotedbysomeperformativeverb(e.g.promise,declareetc.).Insodoing,thespeakerdoesnotdescribetheworldbutchangesit. Austinclaimsaboutperformativesthat “theydonot‘describe’or‘report’orconstateanythingatall,arenot‘trueorfalse’;andtheutteringofthesentenceis,orisapartof,thedoingofanaction,whichagainwouldnotnormallybedescribedas,oras‘just’,sayingsomething”(Austin1976:5). Example Byuttering(i)thespeakeractuallymakesanapology,hedoesnotdescribehimselfapologizingforhisbehaviour. (i)Iapologizeformybehaviour Thisdistinguishesperformativesfromconstativeswhichareusedtomakeatrueorfalsestatement.Performativesdonothavetruthconditionsbutfelicityconditions. PerformativeVerbs Thetypeofverbsusedtomakeperformativeutterancesarecalledperformativesorperformativeverbs.Examplesare:promise,name,bet,agree,swear,declare,order,predict,warn,insist,declareorrefuse.Thepropositionalcontentoftheutterancefunctionsasacomplementoftheperformativeverb. Characteristicsofperformativeverbsare: Performativeverbsareverbsthatdescribeactionscarriedoutbyspeakers. Theyareusedin1stpersonsingular,simplepresent,indicative,active. Theycanbecombinedwithhereby(cf.Bublitz2009:75f). Austin(1976:5)providesthefollowingexamplesofperformativesinhiswork: a) “‘Ido(sc.Takethiswomantobemylawfulweddedwife)’–asutteredinthecourseofthemarriageceremony.” b) “‘InamethisshiptheQueenElisabeth’–asutteredwhensmashingthebottleagainstthestem.” c) “‘Igiveandbequeathmywatchtomybrother’–asoccurringinawill.” d) “‘Ibetyousixpenceitwillraintomorrow.’” ExplicitPerformativesandPrimaryUtterances Duetothefactthatthedistinctionbetweenperformativesandconstativesisquestionableinseveralways,Austinfurtherdistinguishesbetweenexplicitperformativesandprimaryutterances. Examples “primaryutterance:‘Ishallbethere.’ explicitperformative:‘IpromisethatIshallbethere.’”(Austin1976:69). Thefirstexampledoesnotmakeuseofaperformativeverb,whereastheseconddoes.Still,bothexampleshavesimilarimplications,i.e.theybotharepromises,butonlyinthesecondexamplethepromiseismadeexplicit.Atthispoint,Austinrecognizesthatanutterancecanalsobeperformativewithoutincludingaperformativeverb.Forexample,"Isaluteyou"isanactofgreetingjustas"Salaam." FelicityConditions Inhissecondlecture“Conditionsforhappyperformatives”(1976:12-24),Austinidentifiesasetofruleswhichgovernthefelicitousor‘successful’useofperformativeutterances.These‘felicityconditions’applyespeciallytoperformativesassociatedwithspecificritualsorothertypesofformalevents(cf.Thomas1997:37).AccordingtoAustin(1976:14f),thefollowingconditionsmustbemetforaperformativesentencetobesuccessful: A.1 “Theremustexistanacceptedconventionalprocedurehavingacertainconventionaleffect,thatproceduretoincludetheutteringofcertainwordsbycertainpersonsincertaincircumstances,andfurther, A.2 theparticularpersonsandcircumstancesinagivencasemustbeappropriatefortheinvocationoftheparticularprocedureinvoked. B.1 Theproceduremustbeexecutedbyallparticipantsbothcorrectlyand B.2 Completely. C.1 Where,asoften,theprocedureisdesignedforusebypersonshavingcertainthoughtsorfeelings,orfortheinaugurationofcertainconsequentialconductonthepartofanyparticipant,thenapersonparticipatinginandsoinvokingtheproceduremustinfacthavethosethoughtsoffeelings,andtheparticipantsmustintendsotoconductthemselves,andfurther C.2 mustactuallysoconductthemselvessubsequently.”(Austin1976:14f) Misfires TheconditionsunderAandBareessentialtothefirstgroupofinfelicitieswhichAustincalls“Misfires.”(Austin:1976:16)Notobservingtheserulesmakestheactinvalid,sothatitdoesnottakeeffect.Forexample,ifahusbandsaystohiswife‘Idivorceyou’,thisisaninfelicitousspeechactbecauseonecannotgetdivorcedbyoneself,sotheutterancedoesnothaveaconventionaleffect.AnotherexampleoccursifspeakerAsays:‘Ibetyousixpence’butspeakerBdoesn’tsay‘Itakeyouon.’ Abuses TheconditionslistedunderC–whenviolated–maketheprofessedactanabuseoftheprocedure.Austinstatesthatsuchperformancesarenotvoidbut“unhappy.”(Austin1976:15,43)Forexample,whenthespeakersays"Icongratulateyou",althoughthespeakerdoesnothavetherequisitefeelings.(Austin1976:41) ProblemswithPerformatives Austinmodifiedhistheoryduringhislecturesconsiderably.Attheendofhislectures,hereplaceshisperformative/constativedistinctionwithamoregeneraltheoryofspeechacts,statingthat"thetraditional'statement'isanabstraction,anideal"(Austin1962:148).Performativeverbsascriteriaforclassifyingspeechactsarereplacedbytypesofillocutionaryforcewhichareassociatedwithanutterance.Thenotionof‘performative’,whichwasbasedontheperformative/constativedistinction,hasthusbeenreplacedwithmoregeneralfamiliesofrelatedandoverlappingspeech-acts(Austin1962:150).Austindistinguishesfivegeneralclassesofutteranceswhichareclassifiedaccordingtotheirillocutionaryforce: Verdictives(usedtojudgefromsomething,examples:estimate,reckoning,appraisal) Exercitives(usedtoexercisepowers,rightsorinfluence.Examples:appointing,voting,ordering) Commissives(usedtocommityourselftodoingsth.example:promising) Behabitives(usedtoexpressattitudesorsocialbehaviourtowardssomeone.examples:Congratulating,challenging) Expositives(makeplainhowweareusingwords.Example:'Iillustrate') (types1-5:cf.Austin1976:151ff) Eventhoughthe‘performative-constative’dichotomywasgivenup,Austin’stheoryhashadgreatinfluenceonmodernlinguistics,ashiswritingisaccessibleandhisworkrepresentsaconsistentlineofthoughts,eventhoughithasoftenbeenmodified(cf.Thomas1997:27). Links UtrechtLexiconofLinguistics PerformativeVerbsonAbout.Grammar.com http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~jsearle/  Wikipedia:logicalpositivism(English) JohnR.Searle John_Langshaw_Austin Speechact References Austin,J.L.(1962)HowtoDoThingswithWords,Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress. mostreferencesonthissitehavebeentakenfromthefollowingedition:Austin,J.L.(1976)Howtodothingswithwords.Oxfordet.al.:OxfordUniversityPress.(occasionallypagenumbersmightbedifferentinbotheditions) Bublitz,Wolfram.(2009)EnglischePragmatik–EineEinführung.Berlin:ErichSchmidt. Petrey,Sandy.(1990)SpeechActsandLiteraryTheory.NewYorket.al.Routledge. Thomas,Jenny.(1997)MeaninginInteraction–AnIntroductiontoPragmatics,Londonet.al.:Longman. ChierchiaandMcConnell-Ginet.(1990)Meaningandgrammar,MITPress,Cambridge,Mass. Retrievedfrom"http://glottopedia.org/index.php?title=Performative&oldid=17425" Categories:EnDICTSemanticsPragmatics Navigationmenu Personaltools Login Namespaces PageDiscussion Variants Views ReadViewsourceViewhistory More Search Navigation MainPageAboutThematicareasFAQ Interaction HowtocontributeAccountregistrationGuidelinesCommunityportalCommunityforumHelpRecentchanges Tools WhatlinkshereRelatedchangesSpecialpagesPrintableversionPermanentlinkPageinformationCitethispage Thispagewaslasteditedon2March2018,at13:07. ContentisavailableunderAttribution-ShareAlike3.0unlessotherwisenoted. Privacypolicy AboutGlottopedia Disclaimers



請為這篇文章評分?