Eintrag

Titel

Speech act distinctions in grammar

Personen

Ekkehard König, Peter Siegmund

Jahr

2007

Typ

Monographie

Verlag

Cambridge University Press

Ort

Cambridge

Schlagwörter

Sprechakt

Abstract

In contrast to the traditional view that the function of language is essentially a descriptive one, it is now generally accepted that in speaking we perform actions of various kinds. This is clearest in the case of so-called ‘performative utterances ’ like the following: (1) a. I (hereby) order you to leave the room. b. I promise you never to be late again. c. I hereby declare this meeting closed. d. I hereby christen this ship “Queen Elizabeth”. Sentences like these are special insofar as their utterance in appropriate circumstances amounts to performing the action identified by the finite verb. The typical formal properties of such sentences in English include first person subjects, second person indirect objects, a present tense non-progressive active form of a speech act verb and the deictic adverb hereby, but performative sentences may also be in the passive voice, contain modal hedges and a nominalization instead of a verb: (2) a. You are cordially invited to come to my birthday party. b. I must admit that you have won that argument. Key

https://grammis.ids-mannheim.de/bdg/102885