Performative utterance

Performativity is a term of speech and referred to a special relationship between speech and action. The normal relationship between speech and action is referred to as a speech act - is thus clear that "speaking" a deliberate act is. Is performative speech act, if it is running or concrete (examples: do what you say, or call a specific decision point ).

So performativity refers to the design or specification of the spoken word.

Prologue

The concept of performativity was coined by John Langshaw Austin and experiences in different contexts different interpretations.

Language Philosophical Approach

Performative utterances are loud Austin sets are completed with those illocutionary acts. This is handled by Austin in his lecture series on speech act theory "How to Do Things with Words " ( publ. 1962) Incoming.

Examples: "I hereby pronounce you man and wife " (voiced by a registrar to be married to two people ' explicit ' Performativum ); "I order you to close the door!" (voiced to command something ' explicit ' Performativum ); " I warn you, the bull is coming!" (voiced to warn someone, ' explicit ' Performativum ); " The bull is coming!" (voiced to warn someone); " Get out! " (voiced to prompt someone to go ).

In the first lectures Austin still argues for a fundamental contrast between " constative " and " performative " utterances. The former were true or false, and confined themselves to ' something to say ', the latter are neither true nor false, and only these were used to do something ( which goes beyond the pure word ). In the course of lectures he comes across a number of doubts, however, to conclude that this classification of the utterances is ultimately not be justified and therefore not to keep. Last is only " the entire speech act in the total speech situation " ( Lecture 12 ) to consider, which is why at the end is the following ratio: " The doctrine of the distinction between performative and constative utterances is related to the doctrine of locutionary and illocutionary acts in speech as the special to the general theory " (ibid.). Findings are only one of many classes of illocutionary speech acts, like Warn, judgments, describing, and much more. Last is relevant to Austin the study of illocutionary acts, so that aspect of an ( almost every ) utterance, which makes them an action.

Austin's theory of illocutionary acts was picked up by John Searle in his speech act theory and modified with a claim to improvement.

In addition, connections are made to the functional language models of Karl Bühler and Roman Jakobson.

Literature Scientific Approach

In the literature, the term is used as an antonym to the so-called écriture, of Scripture. Performativity is bound to a body, while the écriture is disembodied. So performative is closely connected with the literary theme " strikethrough of the subject ," or more specifically "The death of the author " Roland Barthes.

Theory of gender and identity formation

Judith Butler uses Austin's term in which their own social-theoretical discourse through signs and speech acts that identity is marked as male or female. " The cry of the midwife ' A girl! ' must therefore be understood not only as a constative statement but also as a more directive speech: ' Be a Girl! ' The performativity of gender that is the result of the interplay of political performative and theatrical performances. "

Others

The language philosopher Bruno Liebrucks has in its extensive work and language awareness to the fact that who is speaking to another, always talks to himself. Speaking to another can thus not only performative act on those, but also on the speaker itself. This can occur, for example, that makes the speaker by the front desk of the discourse as its own internalized ( by his choice of words ) and those. The opportunity philosopher Günther Anders coined this in his heresies the sentence: How do you pronounce, it will.

In the literature, those performativity has been known for decades. As an example of the novel Stiller is mentioned by Max Frisch, in which the main character refuses to say I, so as not to identify with the role, trying by their behavior and calls impose other people to him.