This paper purports to analyze the verificationist theory of meaning proposed by logical positivism. According to this theory, only sentences verifiably by means of empirical observation have meanings. Our purpose is to show the reasons why the verificationist theory collapses. In order to do so, we will examine both the internal and external critiques to it. Among the internal critiques, we will show the logical positivists’ failed attempts to formulate an adequate weak verification criterion. Among the external critiques, we will focus on the ones formulated by J.L. Austin on the basis of his theory of performative utterances. / El presente trabajo busca analizar la teoría verificacionista del significado propuesta por el positivismo lógico. De acuerdo a esta teoría, solo los enunciados verificables por medio de la observación empírica tienen significado. Nuestro propósito es mostrar las razones por las cuales la teoría verificacionista del significado colapsa. Para ello, examinaremos tanto las críticas internas como externas. En las críticas internas mostraremos los intentos fallidos de los positivistas lógicos en formular un criterio de verificación débil adecuado.  En las críticas externas nos centraremos en las formuladas por J.L. Austin a partir de su teoría de los enunciados realizativos.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento CientÃfico e TecnolÃgico / A presente dissertaÃÃo tem por interesse principal as pornografias contemporÃneas, ou as novas pornografias, ou ainda: as pornografias realizadas recentemente e, em geral, divulgadas por meio da Internet e em festivais especÃficos. Para tal, ela toma, como objeto de anÃlise, os primeiros trabalhos do portuguÃs Antonio Da Silva â realizador radicado em Londres â, produzidos entre os anos de 2011 e 2013, e que se expressam em pornografia junto a demais linguagens fÃlmicas e discursivas. Esta anÃlise toma singularmente os trabalhos de Antonio para pensar, de modo mais geral, como as atuais produÃÃes em pornografia se apropriam de outras formas de falar do sexo, da sexualidade e da prÃpria pornografia. Ao mesmo tempo, encarando, como fundamental a presenÃa do corpo do pesquisador como espectador de sua constituiÃÃo. Nesse sentido, traz como metodologia a escrita performativa, que permite o uso em primeira pessoa, e a utilizaÃÃo de modos de escrever e de falar do tema alÃm do escrever e do falar acadÃmicos. Esta anÃlise tem, por base teÃrica, a vinculaÃÃo da imagem pornogrÃfica à noÃÃo de performatividade, com base nos trabalhos de J. L. Austin (1990), Jacques Derrida (1991) e Judith Butler (1988, 1997). Sobre a pornografia que se discute, o trabalho toma autores como Feona Attwood (2007, 2011), Nuno CÃsar Abreu (1996), Linda Williams (1989, 1991, 2004, 2014) e Katrien Jacobs (2004), dentre outros. Juntam-se, ao texto acadÃmico e dissertativo, confissÃes, memÃrias e poemetos, que vÃo compondo a anÃlise performativa dos trabalhos de Antonio, com base na escrita performativa, teorizada e apontada, aqui, por Alexandre Beigui (2011). Ao fim das contas, o principal interesse à interpretar o que à o pornogrÃfico, tanto do ponto de vista da linguagem como do espectador, e, por isso, à trazida à tona a noÃÃo de performatividade, ajudando-nos, escritor e leitor, a pensar sobre uma possÃvel performatividade pornogrÃfica no lugar de uma pornografia como algo dado e identificado a princÃpio.

Performativity” is employed in this study as a methodological approach to an understanding of patriarchy and its effects. As the materialized effect of the use of language and symbolization (speech acts, larger discourses, rituals) it fits within the broad frame of rhetorics, where the last highlights the creational or shaping force of language. Specifically the study focuses on an adapted version of Judith Butler’s notion of “performativity” in an analysis of the lives of various women. The term “performativity” is used in two fundamentally different senses. In the first, it refers to the prescriptions and expectations of patriarchy in regard to the identity and behaviour of its subjects, presented to them through master narratives. This sense of the word is pejorative in that “performativity” is a means of oppression and control. In the other sense of the word, “performatives” are those alternative ways of behaving and responding, chosen by women in their attempts to free themselves from the stifling effects of patriarchy and the master-narrative that it dictates. In this sense, the term actually refers to contra-performatives. Any study focusing on patriarchy necessarily requires an understanding of the origins and workings, as well as the effects, of that phenomenon. The study traces the development of the patriarchal system from pre-history, through Antiquity, into the Middle Ages and the Modern Era. This examination reveals the universality of patriarchy around the world and throughout history. The phenomenon is defined as an oppressive system of male domination within the family and society. As the study focuses particularly on the lives of two fourteenth century English women, Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich, an examination of English society of that period as a strongly gendered culture, is undertaken. The very limited options available to women are delineated: the choice confronting them was either marriage and procreation, or church and chastity. Margery Kempe initially chose the former, while Julian of Norwich chose the latter. How did these choices impact on their lives, and in what ways may they be regarded as “performative”? Through various speech acts and rituals, as well as their writing, these women confronted patriarchy, sometimes directly and overtly, and at other times subtly and covertly, in their endeavours to create for themselves an alternative to patriarchal oppression. Alternative discourses informed alternative “performances”. In order to demonstrate the universality over time and place of patriarchy and the universal, “performative” response of women to it, the focus then shifts to nineteenth and twentieth century South Africa, where the life-worlds of a diverse group of women are studied. Again, “performativity” as a tool of liberation in the hands of women such as James Barry, Olive Schreiner, Johanna Brandt and Ellen Kuzwayo, is examined. The value of “performativity” is then, emphasised in this study, particularly as a means for those who have for whatever reason – gender, sexual orientation, race, etcetera – been “othered”, to overcome the regime under which they suffer. Regimes which have existed throughout history. This study in a sense serves as a springboard for further research into the why and how of liberation from patriarchal and other oppression. / Prof. H. Viviers

The diploma thesis deals with the communication strategy of the association Dokořán Initiative. Dokořán Initiative is a nonprofit organization working in the field of culture. The goal of the thesis is to design a communication strategy which will be effective, and at the same time overcome all barriers specific for non-profit sector, especially the field of the culture. The thesis is divided into three chapters. The first two chapters provide a theoretical basis for the development of the practical part. It deals with marketing in general, eventually it gets to all commercial communications and specifics of non-profit organizations and Culture. The third chapter contains a detailed analysis of the association. In the conclusion of these analyzes we can find a comprehensive proposal on a communication strategy for the season 2017.

This work from the field of pragmatics introduces the application of the concept of speech acts (see J. L. Austin, J. Searle) to the literary sample of 15 chosen dialogues i.e. 1122 sentences from the novel Pride and Prejudice by the classical English author Jane Austen. It introduces an eight-member modified classification of speech acts: representatives, assertives, directives, connissives, expressives, interrogatives, requestives and daclarations. There are eight literary characters included in the research together with marginally Charlotte Lucas, who use speech acts to express their communicative intentions. The main heroine Elizabeth occurring in 12 dialogues uses mostly representatives, assertives and expressives. The remaining three dialogues involve Mrs Bennet and her husband Mr Bennet. Jane Austen's language is very rich and complex, with frequent occurrence of politeness turns of phrase. Some mixed and multiple categories also add to this complexity (there are 55.8% of simple ones; 39.1% of double, 4.6% of triple, quadruple only 0.5 % of the 969 sentences counted). This work also contains some comments on stylistic analysis featuring selected interesting literary and pragmatic aspects of the dialogical samples.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This thesis is an exploration of the historical, socio-cultural, economic, and political settings in which identities are negotiated and performed among Cameroonian immigrants in Cape Town. Focusing on language as localized practices and different interaction regimes, the thesis investigates how Cameroonian immigrants maintain and reconfigure the Anglophone/Francophone identity options in novel and hybrid ways. In addition, the study examines how ideologies favouring different languages are reproduced and challenged in translocal and transnational discourses. Guided by the poststructuralist theories the thesis explores the stance that reality is socially constructed, based on symbolic and material structural limitations that are challenged and maintained in interaction. That is, whatever we do or believe in, is supported by some historical or cultural frames of meanings in our lived world, which often gives room to some manoeuvre to do things in a new way. The study adopts a multiplex interpretive approach to data collection. This entails a qualitative sociolinguistic approach where interviews, discussion and observations at different socio-economic places namely; meetings, workplaces, homes, restaurants, drinking spots and many sites from all over Cape Town, were explored. The study suggests that Cameroonians have a multiplicity of identity options, which are manifested and negotiated performatively through language, dress code, song, food, business, and other practices that comprise their lifestyles. These identities are translocal and transnational in nature, and tend to blend South African, Cameroonian, and even American traits. It is also suggests that the different identity options which they manifest are highly mobile, enabling Cameroonians to fit into South African social structures as well as the Cameroonian ways of doing things. Additionally, the multiplicity of identities that Cameroonians manifest, blur the fault-line between Anglophone/Francophone identities. It is evident from the study that hybridity and the reconstruction practices are not only confined to languages. Hybridity also extends to discourse orders especially in terms of how meetings are conducted. The Cameroonian meetings captured through the activities of Mifi Association and CANOWACAT are characterised by ‘disorder of discourse’ in which both formal and informal versions of English and French are used separately or as amalgams alongside CPE and their national languages, not only in side talks, but also when contributing to the meeting proceedings. Ultimately, the study concludes that Cameroonians are social actors making up an indispensable part of the social interaction in the Cape Town Diaspora. Just as they influence the languages, the entrepreneurial practices, and spaces in which they interact, the Cameroonian immigrants are also transformed. The major contribution of the study is that it adds to the recent debates about the nature of multilingualism and identities in late modern society. It emphasises that languages and identities are fluid, complex, and unstable. The distinction or boundaries between the various languages in multilingual practices are also not as clear-cut. This leads to a reframing of voice and actor hood as meaning is constructed across translocal and transnational contexts and domains in a networked world transformed by the mobility of endless flows of information, goods, ideas, and people. Thus, the study contributes to those arguing for a paradigm shift in sociolinguistic theory in which language is not a property of groups, nor is it an autonomous and bounded system fixed in time and space. Thus, identities, languages and the spaces of interaction are not fixed systems; identities, languages, and spaces are dynamic and in a state of flux. This in turn questions the notions of multilingualism and language itself, as well as the veracity of concepts such as code-switching, speech community, language variation, as the search for a sociolinguistic framework that can deal with phenomena predicated by motion, instability, and uncertainty, continues. / South Africa

The objective of this thesis is to examine the impact audiences have on the director’s process of creating a mise-en-scène and to understand the ways in which we might begin to understand and articulate such impact. I argue that the influence audiences have on theatre directors' mise-en-scenes have been ambiguous, and therefore there is a lack in a systematic approach to theatre-making. Through a detailed investigation on the arbitrary methods employed by a selected group of theatre directors, I propose that a communicative approach in capturing audiences’ expectations is necessary in shaping mise-en-scenes, directly and indirectly. More specifically, this thesis makes explicit these cognitive processes through a technical investigation, a mechanism which I propose and have graphically represented that can be used to harness the impact audiences have on theatre-making. In this thesis, the historical role and influence of the audience is discussed in Chapter One. This is followed by focusing on different of aspects of the audience, such as the attraction and captivation of audience, reception and perception of audience, and audience and culture. In Chapter Two there are two sections to define dramaturgy and mise-en-scène. I also argue that there are three key points in the communication between the audience and the theatre group: (i) audience pleasure, (ii) deadness, and (iii) distance. I present a diagram in order to suggest the relationship between the director, audience and mise-en-scène with an emphasis on their pathways in receiving audiences’ expectations. The diagram is developed throughout the thesis. In Chapter Three the study is motivated primarily by the individual styles and mise-en-scenes of Augusto Boal, Eugenio Barba, Peter Brook and Robert Lepage. Here I explore specifically the ways in which they have imagined, created, and performed mise-en-scenes, and the role audiences play in impacting their mise-en-scenes. Chapter Four is based on three case studies with the final suggested diagram at the end. As part of my research, I created and examined three case studies to support the hypothesis that audiences have an important impact on directors’ mise-en-scenes, i.e. how and why the director controls and manipulates theatrical elements. In conclusion, four main pathways for receiving audiences’ expectations are suggested.

The female characters in Shakespeare’s 2 Henry VI and Richard III; Rowley’s All’s Lost by Lust; Fletcher’s The Tragedy of Valentinian; Rowley, Dekker, and Ford’s The Witch of Edmonton; and Brome and Heywood’s The Late Witches of Lancashire curse their enemies because, as women, they have no other way to fight against the injustices they experience. At once an extension of the early modern belief that words are “women’s weapons,” and dangerously beyond the feminine ideal of silence, the curse, as a performative speech act, resembles the physical weapons wielded by men in its potential to cause serious harm. Using Judith Butler’s theory of gender as performative and J. L. Austin’s theory of performative utterances, this thesis argues that curses function as part of the cursing woman’s performative identity, and by using speech as a weapon, the cursing woman gains a measure of social agency within the social order even if she cannot change her place within it.

This thesis investigates performative values of garments and objects in relation to space. It aims to show the potential of using abstract garments and objects as choreographers and communicators for dance performance. The concept of creating garments that act as indicators for movement in contemporary dance is insufficiently explored. This research will provide further knowledge of how one can use garments and objects to extend the body and therefore reach unexplored movement territory. Furthermore this study is made with a fashion research perspective and strives to provide an alternative to fashion that is experienced instead of consumed. #performativefashion First different investigations were made to get a deeper understanding of what such work tells us about the relationship between objects, body and space. Then a selection of pieces were finalized in order to show their performative and communicative potential. The methods used in the project were structured by experiments built on restriction and interaction. The tests were made in collaboration with a professional dancer. In the experiments, the body has to overcome a restriction. The limitation is transformed into possibilities that generates new movements, shapes and communication. In conclusion, this research can help change our perception of objects and space. It will also provide more information about how to explore the potential of garments as directors for dance performance.

Das „Tokyo Experimental Performance Archive“ wurde 2014 von Yasuo Ozawa, einem unabhängigen Produzenten im Bereich Musik- und Tanz-/ Körperperformance initiiert. Im ersten Jahr des zunächst auf eine Dauer von drei Jahren angelegten Projekts wurden sechs Performances von Künstlern, die der japanischen experimentellen Musik- und Tanzszene zuzurechnen sind, filmisch dokumentiert und auf einer projektbezogenen Website im Internet veröffentlicht. In einem Gespräch mit der Autorin erläutert Ozawa seine Vorstellung von einem Archiv als ‚kreativer Kommunikationsplattform’, seine Kurz- und Langzeitvision des „Tokyo Experimental Performance Archive“, sowie seinen Kampf mit den Windmühlen der japanischen Bürokratie.