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Harris on performatives
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 November 2008
Extract
Harris (1978) argues against the ‘descriptive’ interpretation of performative utterances on the ground that on a particular occasion of its use I apologize may not constitute a ‘genuine instance of apologizing’, although the use of that utterance on that occasion may be ‘correctly described’ by using the verb APOLOGIZE non-performatively, as in (these are Harris's examples): (1) S apologized to the lamp-post, and even the police sergeant laughed. (2) S apologized on T's behalf, although T himself flatly refused to.
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