What do you call the type of verb that by saying it you actually perform the action?

Question

What do you call a verb that by saying it you actually perform the action?

Common example: Apologize -- "I apologize for hurting you." (You just apologized by saying that)

I vaguely remember hearing a specific term for this sort of verb once...

Tim Lymington · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-21 22:58:46Z

4

I believe you are thinking of performative.

answered Feb 21, 2013 at 22:58

Tim Lymington

34.9k9 gold badges85 silver badges175 bronze badges

1

Yes. That's the term Austin used in How to Do Things With Words. See also the SIL linguistic glossary definition and Wikipedia on "Performativity".
– John Lawler
Feb 21, 2013 at 23:29
@JohnLawler: Freddie Ayer (over-) used the adjective in his theories of language, and the OED has a 1922 citation. But Austin was probably the first to use it as a noun.
– Tim Lymington
Feb 21, 2013 at 23:33
2

And the one that stuck, professionally. It had a profound effect on (then-nascent) transformational syntax.
– John Lawler
Feb 21, 2013 at 23:47

Add a comment |

1 Answer 1