!VAR HAGENDOORN

Speech Acts and Inaugurations

The oath taken by Barack Obama during his inauguration as the 44th president of the United States is a typical example of what in the philosophy of language has been called an illocutionary act or speech act to use the more popular term.

The term illocutionary act was originally coined by John Austin in his seminal book How to Do Things With Words to describe those phrases by which we "do" something when we pronounce them, such as when we apologize, make a promise, warn, greet or challenge someone or take a vow.

Of course the meaning of a speech act is determined by the context, a point that is still often overlooked in introductions to speech acts. The words spoken by Barack Obama as he was sworn in only have meaning there and then. The rehearsal for the inauguration is just that.

It was unfortunate that Obama and Chief Justice John Roberts made a bit of a mess of the oath. Both were obviously nervous. I think Obama started when he interrupted Roberts. Then Roberts made an error in the word order. When Roberts gave it another try he made another mistake as Obama repeated his first, erroneous formulation. It would have been great if Obama had smiled and had said something like "OK, let's do this one more time from the beginning." Anyway. It's just an oath. But, see update below.

I always feel a little unfulfilled by these kind of oaths and vows. Is this it? You would expect something bigger, something more commensurate to the event. But of course it is a fallacy to think that if the consequences are big so should be the cause. It may be why the occasion is marked by ceremonies, celebrations and inaugural balls though.

From an ethnological point of view the inauguration ceremony was also quite interesting and of course every detail is significant. Why did Obama's wife have to hold the bible, the same bible that Abraham Lincoln used at his inauguration 148 years ago? Why did his children have to stand by his side? Why was he sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts? Etc. etc.

In ancient times things were more basic. Rulers were succeeded by their oldest son or defeated and killed by a rival. Just read Shakespeare’s magnificent War of the Roses.

However some of the old still remains, albeit symbolically. Straight after the inauguration former president George Bush and his entourage were whisked off in a helicopter and transported to Guantanamo Bay….

The BIG picture.

Update: The New York Times of 21 January reports that on his first day in office Obama has been sworn in a second time but now properly.