"formal statement marker" for performatives? (was: Re: here is some stuff i want all of ya'll to look at)

Amanda Babcock ha tera a:

>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
Hmm, yes, thanks for reminding me of performatives.  I suspect I would
subconsciously included performatives in what the "formal statement
marker" is used for.

I hereby declare that the formal statement marker |u| in Ikanirae Seru
shall be used to indicate performatives.  :)

It may also have other functions, I'm not sure yet.

Actually, performatives relates very nicely to a function I just
remembered I'd assigned to |u|.

I once wrote that the distinction between |a| and |u| could mark the
difference between a prediction and a promise.

Thus,
uti moma ikemahi enari ro otu a
I   will remember name of you STATEMENT
"I will remember your name."

with a plain statement marker |a| is a prediction that I will remember
your name, perhaps because I'm good at names, or because yours has
something that makes it easy for me to remember it.

while
uti moma ikemahi enari ro otu u
I   will remember name of you FORMAL STATEMENT
"I will remember your name."

is a promise whereby I commit myself to remembering your name.  A
promise is essentially performative, right?

So I think that "performative" is a major portion of what the formal
statement marker stands for.  Thanks, Amanda.

-Rachel

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