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Performative utterances as indexical expressions Comment on Harris

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Roger W. Spielmann
Roger W. Spielmann
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
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Extract

Theorists of performatives are very much at odds with one another when it comes to the crucial question which has divided them into two camps; that is, are performative utterances true or false? One side, including Austin (1962), Black (1963), and Harris (1978), denies that the question is relevant, while the other side, including Hedenius (1963), Lemmon (1963), Wiggens (1971), and Åqvist (1972), insists that the question is of primary importance for understanding the use of performatives. These two camps have been termed, respectively, the ‘non-descriptive’ and the ‘descriptive’ interpretations. In a recent issue of this journal, Harris (1978) suggested that the descriptive interpretation of performatives is self-contradictory.

Type
Notes and Discussion
Information
Journal of Linguistics , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , March 1980 , pp. 89 - 93
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

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References

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