Select an extract from any literary text and analyse it using the performative text approach. NANYONGA HELLEN

Performativity is the term for the capacity of speech and communication not simply to communicate but rather to act an action. In 1971, a French philosopher, Jacques Derrida wrote an essay, the Signature Event Context. He presented a critic who is a language philosopher, J. L. Austin who says that the simple act of saying something is equivalent to accomplishing something and these cases he calls, performative utterances. In 1966, a book was established on how to do things with words. This approach introduced a new method of analyzing any piece of communication. An example from a religious person was given, “I hereby pronounce you husband and wife." In this case, simply saying the word has brought a certain state of affair into being. That is to say, marriage. According to this approach, any meaning of an utterance is understood in three levels; the locution, Illocution and perlocution. The locutional level is the first level of understanding hence, what is said in the utterance. The illocutional level is the second way of understanding which looks at the intention of the author in making a certain utterance hence answers the question of, “what is the text talking about? ” And lastly the perlocutional level which looks at the effect of the utterance. That is to say, how the statement influences achievement. Song Of Chickens by Jack Mpanje is the poem that am going to use to show how the performative text approach analyses utterances. Song Of Chickens Master, you talked with bows, Arrows and catapults once Your hands steaming with hawk blood To protect your chicken. Why do you talk with knives now, Your hands teaming with eggshells And hot blood from your own chicken? Is it to impress your visitors? Jack Mpanje At the locutional level, the title of the above poem, Song Of Chickens simply means that the chickens are singing. And in the first stanza, they begin with the utterance, “Master,” which simply means that the chickens are referring to their leader whom they refer to with a title of respect to the one who owns them. In other words, these chickens are singing for their master. Furthermore, the illocutional level helps us to know the intentions of the author of this poem into details. The poet gives the chickens a voice that helps them to make their expression towards their master. According to J. L. Austin, asking a question and making an assertion is an act of illocutional. Just like in the second stanza of the poem we see the assertions and various questions the chickens ask their master. “Why do you talk with knives now, Your eyes teaming with eggshells And hot blood from your own chicken? Is it to impress your visitors?” And also, at the perlocutional level, the last stanza of the poem is eliciting an answer from the master. The chickens are asking questions to the master and they are really in need of an answer. This shows that the chickens are disappointed in the betrayal, bloodshed and injustice of their master who is behaving in a very cruel manner. In a nut shell, the performative text theory of speech utterances, focuses attention on the illocutional, much less on the locutional and perlocutional level. This analysis brings about a deep understanding of a text as shown in the above levels. REFERENCES https/en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/perfornative-text Ing. qc. edu/1021-perfomativity/performing text: orality literacy, performance ENGL78/ at Queens collage. J. L. Austin,(1973) How to do Things with Words, Second Edition, Oxford: Oxford University press.