Causativeperformative

Causativeperformative is a term used in linguistic pragmatics to denote a subtype of performative utterances whose illocutionary force includes a causally effective directive that brings about an action by a recipient or another agent. The concept combines two established notions: causatives, which encode that one agent brings about a change in another's state or action, and performatives, which enact an action by virtue of being spoken (for example, I apologize, I promise). A causative performative thus does not merely describe or claim an event; it establishes a social or causal link in which the speaker's utterance is part of the mechanism that causes the subsequent action.

In practice, causative performatives are often realized with verbs that express authority or obligation, such as order, command, prohibit, permit, authorize, or compel. Examples include: I order you to stand down and I authorize you to access the file. Such sentences function both to communicate a directive and to initiate or enable the recipient's action, thereby exerting causal influence over behavior.

Scholars vary in how they treat the category: some view it as a natural extension of performatives that embeds a causative force in the illocutionary act; others see it as a pragmatic construction that relies on conventional authority relations. Cross-linguistic data show variation in how languages encode this force, ranging from explicit causative morphology to separate auxiliary or sentential devices.

See also: performative, causative, speech-act theory, illocutionary force, directive.