explicit performatives (those containing a “performative verb”, such as
promise,warn,deny, which names the speech act or illocutionary force of
the sentence) and implicit performatives, which do not contain a performative
verb, e.g. There is a vicious dog behind you(=an implied warning).
It has even been suggested that there is no real difference between constatives
and implicit performatives, because the sentence Chicago is in the United
States can be understood to mean (I state that) Chicago is in the United
States, with the implicit performative verb state.performative hypothesisn
the hypothesis that every sentence can theoretically be derived from a deep
structure containing anexplicit performative associated with a particular
speech act. For example, under this proposal, a sentence like I’ll be there
earlywould be derived from a deep structure something like I promise to
you that I will be there early, or (under a different reading) I predict that
I will be there early.
peripheryn
alsoperipheral grammar
see core grammar
perlocutionary actn
see locutionary act
perseveration errorn
see speech errors
perseverative assimilationn
see assimilation
personn
a grammatical category which determines the choice of pronouns in a
sentence according to such principles as:
a whether the pronoun represents or includes the person or persons
actually speaking or writing (“first person”, e.g. I, we)
b whether the pronoun represents the person or persons being addressed
(“second person”, e.g. you)
c whether the pronoun represents someone or something other than
the speaker/writer or the listener/reader (“third person”, e.g. he, she,
it, they).
performative hypothesis