Laurent Binet - A varázsige elve - A nyelv seventh funkciója

Is the seventh function an instruction manual? A magic spell? An instruction manual? A mirage that creates hysteria in the small circles of politics and intellectuals who see it as the jackpot? When a statement is not enough to assert something about the world, but is intended to cause action, whether it happens or not, simply by the simple fact that the statement was made. (...) It is about the ability of certain statements to make what they say come true simply by the fact of the statement.
This is the principle of the magic word, Jakobson's "magical function".
Anyone who knows and can use this language function would be the master of the world. His power would have no limits. He could get elected in every election, stir up the masses, start revolutions, seduce every woman, sell every product imaginable, build empires, fool the whole world, achieve anything he wants under any circumstances. Real power is language.
On February 25, 1980, Roland Barthes was run over by a washing machine. What if there was a murder? Everyone is suspect in the intellectual and political circles of the era. Inspector Jacques Bayard and a young semiotician, Simon Herzog, begin an investigation.