Speech Acts and Music Acts – intentionality in language and music

Peter Nelson

doi:10.4396/2020112

Peter Nelson

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4396/2020112

Parole chiave: Speech Act, Austin, Jankélévitch, Darwin, Intention, Music

Abstract

In this paper, I consider J. L. Austin’s William James Lectures ‘How to do Things with Words’, in order to ask to what extent Austin’s notion of the speech act might also be applicable to music. Are there ‘music-acts’, and what would such a possibility tell us about music and its evolution, its relationship to language, and its social functions?

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