ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors explore two different but related themes. One is the theme of ritual action as a kind of language of communication, in which the instruments of communication are the embodied actions of persons and the material items that form a part of the actions. The other is the theme of special performative usages of speech actions that are integral to the ritual context. Ritualized uses of language go hand in hand with general definitions of ritual. To recapitulate remarks made elsewhere, classic dimensions of these definitions are that ritual actions are stylized, repetitive, authorized by tradition, invariant, and separate from the intentions of the performers. A kind of parallel or symmetry exists between the linguistic and the nonlinguistic components of action in ceremonial contexts of this kind. Verbal and non-verbal practices come into play in such performances of commemoration.
