performative verb

9.1

A verb that makes an action happen when you say it, like 'promise' or 'apologize'

noun
/pərˈfɔrmətɪv vɜrb/

Specialized

: verbo performativo

A classic example of a performative verb is 'promise' in 'I promise to help you.'

Examples

Saying 'I declare this meeting open' demonstrates how a performative verb can initiate an action through speech.
In the sentence 'I apologize,' the verb 'apologize' serves as a performative verb since it enacts the apology directly.
'I apologize' is only a true apology if 'apologize' functions as a performative verb in the statement.
The professor explained how using a performative verb can both describe and execute an action in language.
A performative verb can create an action just by being spoken.
Many languages have performative verbs that convey actions.
When someone says 'I promise,' the word 'promise' acts as a performative verb that commits them to their word.

Surface Forms

performative verb singular

performative verbs plural

Morphology

performative + verb

The phrase combines 'performative' (doing or enacting) with 'verb' in a straightforward compositional way, so a learner who knows both words can guess it refers to a verb that 'performs' something. However, its precise technical sense — a verb that actually enacts a speech act (e.g. 'promise', 'apologize') — is specialized and not fully predictable from the constituents alone, so it is not fully transparent to an average B1 learner.

Etymology

Performative verb comes from the simple idea that some verbs do the action when you say them: for example, when someone says I promise they are not only talking about 'promising' but actually making the promise. So these verbs both name and perform the action, which is why we call them 'performative'.