What does this research mean for the field?

For a speaker to successfully perform an additional action through a performative utterance, they must have knowledge of what they are saying. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.INCREMENTAL. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

Determine whether the successful execution of performative declarative utterances requires the speaker to possess genuine knowledge of what they say.

September 3, 2026Philosophical StudiesOpen Access

Performatives presume speaker knowledge

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Authors

PEPeter van Elswyk

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Overview

Theoretical analysis demonstrates epistemic requirements for performative utterances in linguistic communication, indicating that successful speech acts necessitate underlying speaker knowledge.

Key Points

Determine whether the successful execution of performative declarative utterances requires the speaker to possess genuine knowledge of what they say.
Conducted a conceptual and philosophical analysis of performative speech acts and declarative sentence structures.
Evaluated the epistemic preconditions necessary for an utterance to perform an additional linguistic action.
Identifies that performativity strictly requires speaker knowledge to effectively complete the associated action.
Concludes that an intended performative act fails if the speaker lacks epistemic knowledge of their spoken proposition.

Cite This Study

Peter van Elswyk (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a993626636c6408cfa7ef55 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-026-02602-1

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September 3, 2026Philosophical StudiesOpen Access

Performatives presume speaker knowledge

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark

Authors

PEPeter van Elswyk

Discussion

Member takes

Overview

Theoretical analysis demonstrates epistemic requirements for performative utterances in linguistic communication, indicating that successful speech acts necessitate underlying speaker knowledge.

Key Points

Determine whether the successful execution of performative declarative utterances requires the speaker to possess genuine knowledge of what they say.
Conducted a conceptual and philosophical analysis of performative speech acts and declarative sentence structures.
Evaluated the epistemic preconditions necessary for an utterance to perform an additional linguistic action.
Identifies that performativity strictly requires speaker knowledge to effectively complete the associated action.
Concludes that an intended performative act fails if the speaker lacks epistemic knowledge of their spoken proposition.

Cite This Study

Peter van Elswyk (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a993626636c6408cfa7ef55 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-026-02602-1

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark