LINGUIST List 23.471 Tue Jan 31 2012 Qs: Performatives in Medieval Czech Editor for this issue: Zac Smith <zaclinguistlist.org> New! Visit LL's Multitree project for over 1000 trees dynamically generated from scholarly hypotheses about language relationships:             http://multitree.linguistlist.org/ We'd like to remind readers that the responses to queries are usually best posted to the individual asking the question. That individual is then strongly encouraged to post a summary to the list. This policy was instituted to help control the huge volume of mail on LINGUIST; so we would appreciate your cooperating with it whenever it seems appropriate. In addition to posting a summary, we'd like to remind people that it is usually a good idea to personally thank those individuals who have taken the trouble to respond to the query. To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.cfm. Directory         1.     stephen dickey , Performatives in Medieval Czech Message 1: Performatives in Medieval Czech Date: 27-Jan-2012 From: stephen dickey <smdku.edu> Subject: Performatives in Medieval Czech E-mail this message to a friend Dear colleagues, I am wondering if anyone has any knowledge of what I can only describe as a kind of repeated epistolary performative in European Medieval texts, in particular Latin or Old High/Middle High German. The examples I have come across occur in Czech letters from the fifteenth century, of which the following are representative examples: vyznávam tiemto listem… že sem prodala a mocí tohoto listu prodávám lan dědiny v Vysoce Lhotě I make known by this letter, that I have SOLD and by virtue of this letter SELL a piece of land in Vysoka Lhota. (early 15th cent.) já Oldřich svrchupsaný slíbil jsem i slibuji svú dobrú a čistú vierú… I Oldřich the aforementioned have PROMISED and PROMISE my good and pure faith… (early 15th cent.) What I'm trying to determine is whether this construction, consisting of a perfective preterit followed by the corresponding imperfective present-tense performative is a home-grown Czech construction, or whether it was imported on the basis of some western European model. Any comments are appreciated. Stephen M. Dickey Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 31-Jan-2012       About LINGUIST    |   Contact Us       While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.