Performative

[Ever Student]

Hi everyone,
What's difference between felicity and performative sentences?

[Raymott]

Originally Posted by taghavi

Hi everyone,
What's difference between felicity and performative sentences?

In whose classification?

[Ever Student]

When I say "I promise to do something" which rhetorical form I use, Performative or Felicity?

[Raymott]

Originally Posted by taghavi

When I say "I promise to do something" which rhetorical form I use, Performative or Felicity?

That's performative. By uttering those words, you are performing an act, of promise.
Other performatives are:
I arrest you in the name of the law.
I now pronounce you man and wife.

I don't know what felicity utterances are, beyond what I could guess.

[Ever Student]

Originally Posted by Raymott

That's performative. By uttering those words, you are performing an act, of promise.
Other performatives are:
I arrest you in the name of the law.
I now pronounce you man and wife.

I don't know what felicity utterances are, beyond what I could guess.

Thank you.
Felicity;
"I promise the sun will set today"
The hearer prefers the speaker does rather than say and not to do it.

[Raymott]

OK, you're talking about John Austin's Speech Acts theory.
To be a performative utterance, there needs to be proper felicity conditions.

Felicity conditions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Austin's Felicity Conditions
A - There must be a conventional procedure and the circumstances & participants in the procedure must be correct
B - The procedure must be fulfilled correctly and completely
C - In certain cases, the person must have the correct though, feelings or intentions; if consequential action is required, these actions must be performed

"I now pronounce you many and wife", is only a performative utterance (a valid utterance performing a marriage) if the following felicity conditions exist:
- The utterer is legally entitled to perform marriages
- The couple being married intend it to be a serious act
etc.

So, i) there is no "difference between a felicity sentence and a performative one", and
ii) very few of these linguistics definitions that you are learning exist independent of the name of a linguist who has invented them. It's only when they are widely known that you can ask "What maxim does this sentence violate?" and expect someone to know you are talking about Grice's, for example. Same for Austin

[Ever Student]

Originally Posted by Raymott

OK, you're talking about John Austin's Speech Acts theory.
To be a performative utterance, there needs to be proper felicity conditions.

Felicity conditions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Austin's Felicity Conditions
A - There must be a conventional procedure and the circumstances & participants in the procedure must be correct
B - The procedure must be fulfilled correctly and completely
C - In certain cases, the person must have the correct though, feelings or intentions; if consequential action is required, these actions must be performed

"I now pronounce you many and wife", is only a performative utterance (a valid utterance performing a marriage) if the following felicity conditions exist:
- The utterer is legally entitled to perform marriages
- The couple being married intend it to be a serious act
etc.

So, i) there is no "difference between a felicity sentence and a performative one", and
ii) very few of these linguistics definitions that you are learning exist independent of the name of a linguist who has invented them. It's only when they are widely known that you can ask "What maxim does this sentence violate?" and expect someone to know you are talking about Grice's, for example. Same for Austin

O Thanks for your informative comment.