Re: Words that are just speech acts

Sai Emrys, On 24/10/2006 18:15:
> This is an offshoot of thinking about NLF2DWS.
>
> What words are not quite "real" words but rather just speech acts?
>
> For example, "yes" and "no" have no real semantic content that I can
> tell appart from their use as a confirmatory or negatory speech act.
> They have to have the context to mean anything. "Dog" does not.
>
> What are other examples of this? Why is this the case?
>
> I'm not quite sure how to formulate the question; I just am fairly
> sure that it's going to be an important distinction for NLF2DWS design
> and at present it's hard for me to grasp. So feel free to elaborate it
> yourself.
Other clear examples are HELLO, GOODBYE, SORRY, THANKS/TA, CHEERS, CINCIN, BLESSYOU.
But some would argue that there are many other less obvious cases, such as WELL
and NEVERTHELESS, and some, such as BUT, that have elements of both
truthconditional and 'performative' meaning.

In Livagian, ordinary predicates systematically have performative counterparts.
For example, alongside the predicates "tell" and "regret" there are
performatives meaning "I hereby tell you that p" and "I hereby express regret
that p". So the idea that performative lexis is fundamentally different strikes
me as on the wrong track.

--And.

Reply