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

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

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