Abstract
Many people, at various times, places, and cultures, have believed that language has special magical power. Spells, enchantments, blessing and curses, exorcisms and summonings, have all been thought to rely on certain distinctive uses of language. In this article, I examine three ways of understanding the alleged magical power of language, as illocutionary, as perlocutionary, and as something analogous to mechanical. I argue that none can work as a general account of the magical uses of language, as seen from the point of view of those who engage in such practices. I conclude with the suggestion that such a power is not just non-existent but conceptually impossible.