Intentionality and Addressness of Performative Verbs in Russian Charm Texts

Abstract

The performativity of charm texts as sacred ritual texts is well studied in folk studies, ethnography and linguistics. The core of performative texts is performative verbs. However, there is no clear boundary between performative verbs and other verbs in performative use. There are performative verbs (‘I beg,’ ‘I conjure,’ ‘I swear,’ ‘I curse’) and non-performative verbs (‘I tie,’ ‘I cut,’ ‘I drive out,’ I clear’) in сharms. In this article, I distinguish between them using two concepts of Speech Act theory: Intentionality and Addressness. A result of my work is the classification of Russian ‘charm verbs’. The material is Russian charms in compilations from 1860s till 2000s.