‘I do’ and other performative utterances
Image: Prichat Phruksarojanakun via Vecteezy
Language allows us to put words to the world we see around us, but on special occasions words can do more. Speech acts are performed by being said. These performative utterances have the power to change the world, like a person promising to love another until death by saying ‘I do’.
In February I was the celebrant at my sister’s wedding. As this was my first time acting as a celebrant (heavy on the acting – I’m not formally registered), I borrowed a script from a celebrant friend (who is). I was taken aback by the power of the language it used. By simply saying the words ‘With these words I marry you’ the celebrant effects change. I wanted to understand more about how language can have such an application.
The celebrant's role is to use language to create a definitive moment where the couple go from being engaged to being married, and this happens through an illocutionary act.
Similarly, when a police officer places a person under arrest, a judge hands down a sentence, or a monarch bestows a knighthood on someone, these are all examples of illocutionary acts. As defined by the philosopher JL Austin, when certain people in certain contexts utter a specific set of words, a change is enacted in the world.
There are 3 parts to this: the words themselves, the power vested in the speaker of the words and the context in which the words are uttered. A police officer has the power to request you to get into a police car, but using the specific phrase ‘I am placing you under arrest’ before their request makes it an illocutionary act; a person with the power using the right words.
By the same logic, if a registered celebrant mumbled ‘With these words I marry you’ in their sleep when the couple were not present, there would be no change in the world. It is not just the words themselves and the power of the speaker, but the context in which the words are uttered that make it an illocutionary act.
And, as I learnt, an unregistered celebrant without the qualification to solemnise marriages under law cannot use the same legal words a registered celebrant does to enact the same change in the world. A context can be provided, but the words will have to be changed.
Knowing this, my sister and her (now) husband got legally married at the registry office earlier in the week.
I found that removing some of the more official language from the original script template made the ceremony a lot funnier and more relaxed, while also being more personal and emotional. A promise made in the unique context of being in front of your closest family and friends will give words a significance that wouldn't be the same if made in private. As one guest remarked afterwards, the celebrant is often the person who says the most at the ceremony but who has known the couple for the shortest amount of time.
As a professional editor, I'm not shocked by the fact of words having power, but it was fascinating to see how by working with words in this context I was able to create something special for two people very close to me. A toast to the bride and groom!
