Another possible meaning of the Seventh Function of Language

As we continue trying to figure out the mystery behind Laurent Binet's The Seventh Function of Language - what was Roland Barthes's final, eponymous theory and why would a team of Bulgarian and, possibly, Soviet agents be on a murderous spree trying to find or learn the contents of this esoteric document? - and as the central characters - police inspector Bayard and his "impressed" (as in impressed seaman) aide, literature prof Simon Herzog - head of for Ithaca (N.Y.) to try to find the document or its significance (Binet includes in the Ithaca chapter a hilarious take on an academic conference in progress) another theory about the possible 7th function arises: The pronunciation function. Like everything else in this novel it's entirely odd and over the top yet just barely comprehensible and possibly even plausible. The "pronunciation" function of language refers to utterance which in and of themselves become true when and only when uttered, by their very nature. Two examples: I now pronounce you man and wife - it becomes true when pronounced. Similarly: The court is now in session. But why would it be so important to understand this function? Herzog is thinking about this and posits that it may be a way to use language as a means of control. Yes, if a government could at will apply the pronunciative function of language it would be the ultimate degree of fascism and dictatorship: The government says so and it therefore becomes so. This could be a description of the totalitarian world of 1984 (this novel, published this year - 2017 - is set in 1980). 

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