[lit-ideas] "Bless you": a performative?
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 6 Aug 2004 12:05:19 EDT
In a message dated 8/5/2004 10:33:05 AM Eastern Standard Time,
atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Whereas Mr. Speranza insists (performatively --
hilariously enough), that "Bless you" is a performative utterance, and asks
(again, performatively, tee-hee) what warrants such performativity. I, on
the other hand, correctly correct him. Balderdash, I suggest. "Bless you"
is not a performative, but a petition. It is what I've famously termed an
ellipsistical. It means: "May God bless you and have mercy on your rancid
soul."
----
According to J. R. Ross (of 'performadox' fame), it could be claimed that
there is an element of performativity involved here:
"Bless you"
Geary's ellipsistical for:
"May (Clause 1) God bless you
and (Clause 2) God have mercy on your rancid soul
This, Geary identifies as a 'petition'.
The irony is that 'petition' _is_ a performative, "I petition that..."
According to J. R. Ross, then, the underlying form for
"Bless you"
becomes
I (SPEAKER) petition HEARER
shall hear that I petition
God to bless hearer and
God to have mercy on Hearer's runcid soul.
The point being: the performativeness has to do with the desire on the part
of the speaker that the hearer realises that he (the hearer) has been blessed
(by God) but within the context of a petition which is partly
hearer-directed. (That's why this is an oral thing (oral communication, and
sneezers don't
usually get 'blessed' in _letter writing_).
Cheers,
JL
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