Publications

Publication details [#23821]

Searle, John R. 1989. How performatives work. Linguistics and Philosophy 12 (5) : 535–558.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Journal WWW

Annotation

Contrary to most analyses, Searle proposes to derive the assertion from the performative, the declaration. Then he shows that performative verbs are not defined by any specific semantic property; on the contrary, unless there is some special semantic feature which implies non-performativity, any verb that names an intentional action can be uttered performatively.