'performative
verbs'
. Let us consider the following sentences:
I pronounce you man and wife
I declare war on France
I name this ship The Albatros
I bet you
5
dollars it will rain
I apologize
The peculiar thing about these sentences, according to J. Austin, is that they
are not used to say or describe things, but rather actively to do things. After you
have declared war on France or pronounced somebody husband and wife the
situation has changed. That is why J. Austin termed them as
performatives
and
contrasted them to statements (he called them constatives). Thus by pronouncing a
performative utterance the speaker is performing an action. The performative
utterance, however, can really change things only under certain circumstances. J.
Austin specified the circumstances required for their success as
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