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Re: here is some stuff i want all of ya'll to look at

From:Amanda Babcock <ababcock@...>
Date:Monday, August 30, 2004, 16:26
On Fri, Aug 27, 2004 at 11:03:49PM -0400, Estel Telcontar wrote:

> "u" marks formal statements. I'm still figuring out exactly when it's > used.
Well, one thing that I noticed is that you don't have a separate marker for performative statements. That is, statements that by being uttered change a person's status, such as "I hereby declare you man and wife" or "I declare this convention open" or the like. At first glance this might seem to be just a normal statement, but really in its effect it is just as different from a statement as commands are. When the judge (in some theoretical judge-based legal system) says "I hereby find you guilty", that's an entirely different event from the onlooker who then turns to his companion and says "The judge finds him guilty!" Amanda

Replies

Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>
Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>Performative verbs (was: Re: here is some stuff i want all of ya'll to look at)