How to do things without performative verbs
The most important reason for the collapse of Austin's performative hypothesis was the realization that Austin had ( at least tacitly) equated 'doing things with word's with the existence of a corresponding performative verb. This is clearly erroneous: there are many acts performed using language where it would be impossible, extremerly odd or very unusual to use a performative verb. Consider those acts for which English has no performative verb, such as 'letting the cat out of the bag', incrinating oneself, putting one's foot in it,'treading on someone's corns'. People do not say: I hereby let the cat out of the bag, I hereby tread on your corns, and yet these are (unfortunately) very common actions performed by means of languag. Consider the following example:
Notice on the door of a second-hand furniture shop. The last element had been added in handwriting in very large letters
It is clear what this notice is doing: it is strongly discouragging casual passers-by from dropping into the shop. There would be no way of accomplishing this act using a performative, as no such performative exists in English (and I doubt whether it exists in any other language). Language ids frequaently used to insult, but (outside surrealist cornedy) it would be impossible to say: I (hereby) insult you! We readily use language to invite, but in English it is not usual to use the words I invite you to perform the act of inviting. And the same is true for many extremely common acts: offering, hinting, boasting, devulging, expressing an opinion, are all instance of acts for which it would be most odd to use a performative verb (but note that in reporting the act you would readliy say: She invite me..., He hinted that..., They boasted that...). There are literally hundreds of examples like this. It was in the light of counter-examples of this kind that in chapter six of How to do things with words, Austin briefly introduced a distinction between primary performatives (which, following Levinson 1983 I shall call explicit performatives) and implicit performatives.
