Transferring performativity from speech to writing

Illocutionary Acts and Incantation Bowls

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2803534
AutoresDaniel James Waller (Rijksmuseum, autor de correspondencia)
Año2019
Volumen82
Número2
Páginas233-244
Fecha de publicación2019-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaBulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0041-977X • E-ISSN: 1474-0699
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0041977x19000363
OpenAlexW2949666291
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas35

This article considers the interface between orality and textuality in the Aramaic incantation bowls, as well as the use of performative utterances in the texts of their spells. It demonstrates that writing and writtenness were central to bowl praxis as a whole, and argues that the bowls reflect a growing understanding of writing as performative in itself. In light of this, it suggests that the use of illocutionary acts in the bowl texts reflects the (gradual and ongoing) transfer of performativity from speech to writing in Sasanian Mesopotamia. Such acts of "word magic" in the bowls as oaths and curses are more likely to represent transitional language or a kind of "oral residue" than the verbatim representation of speech or spoken acts

Archaeology · Art · Incantation · Linguistics · Literature · MAGIC (telescope) · Mesopotamia · Orality · Performative utterance · Performativity · Praxis · Sociology · Textuality · Ancient Near East History · History · Linguistics and language evolution · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation