Abstract: This talk will aim to present a few preliminary thoughts on the links between language, affective force and political speech, as seen in forms of public enunciation such as mass petitioning, popular oratory and the sonic, corporeal practice of sloganeering. Certain genres of speech, which we may call “utterance forms” (which share important features in their address, positioning of subjects, intended aims, and effects in the world) play a vital role in shaping these kinds of political expression. Affectively charged utterance forms such as the prayer and the curse arise from and engage vertical relations of power. They direct our attention to a plane of political enunciation that may be distinguished from the more self-conscious, rational and deliberative practices of debate and argument. Literary writing at times invokes and stages these utterance forms and their performative work. Drawing mainly on instances from Malayalam, the talk will reflect on prayers and curses in an attempt to understand their role in vernacular political speech.