Performative utterance - Wikipedia

In the philosophy of language and speech acts theory, performative utterances are sentences which not only describe a given reality, but also change the ... Performativeutterance FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia Jumptonavigation Jumptosearch Forthebroaderphilosophicalandcriticalapplicationsoftheconcept,seePerformativity. Inthephilosophyoflanguageandspeechactstheory,performativeutterancesaresentenceswhichnotonlydescribeagivenreality,butalsochangethesocialrealitytheyaredescribing. Ina1955lectureseries,laterpublishedasHowtoDoThingswithWords,J.L.Austinarguedagainstapositivistphilosophicalclaimthattheutterancesalways"describe"or"constate"somethingandarethusalwaystrueorfalse.Aftermentioningseveralexamplesofsentenceswhicharenotsoused,andnottruth-evaluable(amongthemnonsensicalsentences,interrogatives,directivesand"ethical"propositions),heintroduces"performative"sentencesorillocutionaryactasanotherinstance.[1] Contents 1Austin'sdefinition 2True/falsevalueandJohnSearle 3Thereceivingside 4Performativenessasnon-dichotomousvariable 5Performativewriting 6Seealso 7Notes 8References Austin'sdefinition[edit] Inordertodefineperformatives,Austinreferstothosesentenceswhichconformtotheoldprejudiceinthattheyareusedtodescribeorconstatesomething,andwhichthusaretrueorfalse;andhecallssuchsentences"constatives".Incontrasttothem,Austindefines"performatives"asfollows: Performativeutterancesarenottrueorfalse,thatis,nottruth-evaluable;insteadwhensomethingiswrongwiththemthentheyare"unhappy",whileifnothingiswrongtheyare"happy". Theutteringofaperformativeis,orispartof,thedoingofacertainkindofaction(Austinlaterdealswiththemunderthenameillocutionaryacts),theperformanceofwhich,again,wouldnotnormallybedescribedassimply"saying"or"describing"something(cf.Austin1962,5). TheinitialexamplesofperformativesentencesAustingivesarethese: "Ido(sc.takethiswomantobemylawfulweddedwife)"–asutteredinthecourseofamarriageceremony. "Inamethisshipthe'QueenElizabeth'" "Igiveandbequeathmywatchtomybrother"–asoccurringinawill "Ibetyousixpenceitwillraintomorrow"(Austin1962,5) AsAustinlaternoticeshimself,theseexamplesbelong(moreorlessstrikingly)towhatAustincalls,explicitperformatives;toutteran"explicit"performativesentenceistomakeexplicitwhatactoneisperforming.However,therearealso"implicit","primitive",or"inexplicit"performatives.When,forinstance,oneusestheword"Go!"inordertocommandsomeonetoleavetheroomthenthisutteranceispartoftheperformanceofacommand;andthesentence,accordingtoAustin,isneithertruenorfalse;hencethesentenceisaperformative;–still,itisnotanexplicitperformative,foritdoesnotmakeexplicitthattheactthespeakerisperformingisacommand. AsAustinobserves,theactspurportedtobeperformedbyperformativeutterancesmaybesociallycontested.Forinstance,"Idivorceyou",saidthreetimesbyamantohiswife,maybeacceptedtoconstituteadivorcebysome,butnotbyothers. True/falsevalueandJohnSearle[edit] JohnR.Searlearguedinhis1989articleHowPerformativesWorkthatperformativesaretrue/falsejustlikeconstatives.Searlefurtherclaimedthatperformativesarewhathecallsdeclarations;thisisatechnicalnotionofSearle'saccount:accordingtohisconception,anutteranceisadeclaration,if"thesuccessfulperformanceofthespeechactissufficienttobringaboutthefitbetweenwordsandworld,tomakethepropositionalcontenttrue."Searlebelievesthatthisdoubledirectionoffitcontraststhesimpleword-to-worldfitofassertives [de]. Thereceivingside[edit] KentBachandRobertHarnishclaimedthatperformativesaresuccessfulonlyifrecipientsinfertheintentionbehindtheliteralmeaning,andthatthereforethesuccessoftheperformativeactisdeterminedbythereceivingside.[2] Performativenessasnon-dichotomousvariable[edit] EveSedgwickarguedthatthereareperformativeaspectstonearlyallwords,sentences,andphrases.[3] Additionally,accordingtoSedgwick,performativeutterancescanbe'transformative'performatives,whichcreateaninstantchangeofpersonalorenvironmentalstatus,or'promisory'performatives,whichdescribetheworldasitmightbeinthefuture.Thesecategoriesarenotexclusive,soanutterancemaywellhavebothqualities.AsSedgwickobserves,performativeutterancescanberevoked,eitherbythepersonwhoutteredthem("Itakebackmypromise"),orbysomeotherpartynotimmediatelyinvolved,likethestate(forexample,gaymarriagevowspre-legalisation). Wordsonalistcanbeeitherdescriptiveorperformative.'Butter'onashoppinglistimpliesthat"Iwillbuybutter"(apromisetoyourself).But'Butter'printedonyourtillreceiptmeans"youhavepurchasedbutter"(simplyadescription). Performativewriting[edit] Theaboveideashaveinfluencedperformativewriting;theyareusedasajustificationforanattempttocreateanewformofcriticalwritingaboutperformance(oftenaboutperformanceart).Suchawritingformisclaimedtobe,initself,aformofperformance.Itissaidtomoreaccuratelyreflectthefleetingandephemeralnatureofaperformance,andthevarioustricksofmemoryandreferentialitythathappeninthemindoftheviewerduringandaftertheperformance. Seealso[edit] EveSedgwick Illocutionaryforce J.L.Austin JohnSearle JudithButler Performativetext Performativeturn Pragmatics Notes[edit] References[edit] ^Austin,J.L.HowtoDoThingswithWordsOxford:ClarendonPress,1962.ISBN 0-19-824553-X ^Bach,Kent;Harnish,Robert(August1981)."LinguisticCommunicationandSpeech".LanguageinSociety.10(2):270–274.JSTOR 4167219. ^Sedgwick,Eve(2003).TouchingFeeling.DukeUniversityPress. 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