#performative language

[wgs200f18]

Images: whiteboard from November 7, 2018

[thelingspace]

How does our speech affect the world around us? How can we measure the changes that our words make? In this week's episode, we take a look at performative language: what you need for your words to work their magic, what different parts make up our speech acts, and how our word choices can change the way we perceive and remember events.

Here’s a fun topic that bridges from philosophy to psycholinguistics! Looking forward to hearing what people have to say. ^_^

[thelingspace]

Performative Language and Magic

We here at the Ling Space are pretty good-sized fans of Halloween, and also of fantasy stories, so I think it's natural to think of magic this time of year. But when we think of doing spells, what does this actually mean linguistically? Like, we figure there's magical incantations, those words that go out there, but how does that work? Spells are a kind of speech that fall into what's known as performative language. You say the words, maybe you wave your wand or move your hands in a particular way, and it causes a change in the world. Hermione Granger points her wand at some Death Eater and yells "Expelliarmus!" and the wand flies off and away, in part because of the action, but also because of the words. Using the language caused something in the world to happen - the language caused something to be performed.

Here's an interesting paper going through the different types of spells from Harry Potter: the syntax of them, and about the pragmatics of the situation. Witches and wizards are people, too, if magical ones, and they have to obey the same rules of how conversations should work as everyone else, right? The authors of the paper, Molly Diesing and Sally McConnell-Ginet, argue that spells have a lot in common with people's speech - you have to say things the right way, in the right conditions, in order to get the right results. And being the right sort of person - either being a skilled speaker or being a trained wizard - makes it more likely you'll get what you desire to happen. It's a very fun paper, if a bit technical at points, with lots of Harry Potter quotes and citations, if you want to give it a shot!

But performative language, as the paper notes, exists out in the real world, too. When a justice of the peace says "You are now married," or the dean of your university says "You are now a graduate of our institution," or even gathering people, giving them some dice, and saying "Let the games begin," those are all kinds of language that are causing their results to be true. Saying the words makes the action happen, which is magic, even in our more mundane world. And just like getting your spell wrong, not getting your performative language right can make something not count, or at least worry people. Consider how in 2009, for example, Chief Justice John Roberts didn't quite give President Obama the presidential oath exactly right. The words were slightly off. So to just make sure the spell took right, they came back the next day to give it another shot, and make sure it really held this time. Maybe not as flashy as saying a word wrong and setting your friend on fire by accident, but still, magic! So language can be just as magical here as anywhere else, even if you're a Muggle. Happy Halloween. ^_^