Saying 'I do' doesn't describe a wedding — it performs one

J.L. Austin noticed that some sentences aren't true or false at all — they're actions. Saying 'I now pronounce you married' or 'I promise' doesn't report on reality, it changes it. This split language into two kinds of doing, and launched the study of speech acts.

— J.L. Austin, How to Do Things with Words — Oxford University Press, 1962 (based on 1955 lectures)
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