Transferring performativity from speech to writing

Illocutionary Acts and Incantation Bowls

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2803534
AutoresDaniel James Waller (Rijksmuseum, autor correspondente)
Ano2019
Volume82
Fascículo2
Páginas233-244
Data de publicação2019-06-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoBulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0041-977X • E-ISSN: 1474-0699
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0041977x19000363
OpenAlexW2949666291
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências 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