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Speech Acts Theory

Speech acts theory defines speech acts as utterances intended to perform actions. There are three types of speech acts: locutionary acts are the linguistic meaning of an utterance, illocutionary acts are the intended meaning or force, and perlocutionary acts are the effects on the listener. The most important is the illocutionary act, as it determines the utterance's intended function. Speech acts can also be classified into five categories based on function: representatives commit the speaker to a proposition, directives get the listener to act, commissives commit the speaker to future acts, expressives express psychological states, and declarations change the world through utterance.

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Xuan Mai Đàm
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18 views

Speech Acts Theory

Speech acts theory defines speech acts as utterances intended to perform actions. There are three types of speech acts: locutionary acts are the linguistic meaning of an utterance, illocutionary acts are the intended meaning or force, and perlocutionary acts are the effects on the listener. The most important is the illocutionary act, as it determines the utterance's intended function. Speech acts can also be classified into five categories based on function: representatives commit the speaker to a proposition, directives get the listener to act, commissives commit the speaker to future acts, expressives express psychological states, and declarations change the world through utterance.

Uploaded by

Xuan Mai Đàm
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SPEECH ACTS THEORY

Definition
According to John Langshaw Austin - a British philosopher of language, speech acts are
actions intended to perform by a speaker on saying something. That means when a speaker
produces utterances, he/she often intends to perform actions via those utterances.
Some typical speech acts could be greeting, apologizing, disagreeing, thanking,
complimenting, etc.
A speech act might contain just one word, as in "Sorry!" to perform an apology, or several
words or sentences: "I’m sorry I forgot your birthday. I just let it slip my mind." 
Types
Moreover, as clarified by Searle (1969), and Yule (1996), speech acts could be analyzed on
three different types including:
1. The first one is locutionary act - the production of a meaningful linguistic expression.
To be more specific, when one makes a meaningful utterance in terms of lexis,
grammar, and pronunciation, he/she performs a locutionary act. In other words, it is
concerned with what is said by a speaker.
2. The second is illocutionary act, lies in what is intended by the speaker, or in other
words, the intended meaning of the utterance. It refers to the fact that when ones say
something, he/she usually says it with some purposes in mind.
3. The last one is the result of the words. This is known as the perlocutionary act, which
means what is done by uttering words. To be more exact, it is effects of an utterance
on the hearer or the hearer’s reaction to an utterance.
=> In other words, that locution is the actual form of an utterance, illocution is the
communicative force of the utterance, and perlocution is the communicative effect of the
utterance. (Clyne’s statement)
Of the three dimensions, as stated by George Yule, the most essential act that counts is the
illocutionary act because the same utterance can potentially have quite different illocutionary
forces. For instance, the utterance, “I’ll come back soon” can count as a prediction, a
promise, a statement, or a warning in different contexts. At the same time, the same
illocutionary force can be performed with various utterances. Take directives for example. If
you want to ask somebody to close a door, you may say “Close the door, please!”, “Could
you please close the door?”, “Would you mind closing the door?”, and so on. That’s why he
also stated that the term “speech act” is “generally interpreted quite narrowly to mean only
the illocutionary force of an utterance”.
Classification
The most popular way of classifying speech acts is doing that by function. By this way,
Searle (1976) classified speech acts into five categories including representatives, directives,
commissives, expressive, and declarations.
1. Representatives: Representatives are speech acts that the utterances commit the
speaker to the truth of the expressed proposition. The utterances are produced based
on the speaker’s observation of certain things then followed by stating the fact or
opinion based on the observation. When someone says “she’s beautiful”, the speaker
can state the sentence based on the fact or just give his or her own opinion about
physical condition of a person. It also states what the speaker believes to be the case
or not. Statements of fact, assertions, conclusions, and descriptions are all examples of
the speaker representing the world as he or she believes it is. For example when
someone says “The earth is flat”, it represents the speaker’s assertions about the earth.
The speaker has opinion that the earth is flat. Representatives speech act can be noted
by some speech acts verb, such as: remind, tell, assert, deny, correct, state, guess,
predict, report, describe, inform, insist, assure, agree, claim, beliefs, conclude.
2. Directives: Directives area speech acts that speaker uses to get someone else to do
something. These speech acts include requesting, questioning, command, orders, and
suggesting. For example, when someone says “Could you lend me a pencil, please?”
the utterance represents the speaker requests that the hearer to do something which is
to lend him a pencil.
3. Commissives: Commissives are speech acts that the utterances commit the speaker to
some future course of action, these include promising, threatening, offering, refusal,
pledges. For example when someone says “I’ll be back”, represents the speaker’s
promise that he/she will be back.
4. Expressives: Expressives are speech acts that the utterances express a psychological
state. These speech acts include thanking, apologizing, welcoming, and
congratulating. For example, when someone says “don’t be shy, my home is your
home.” The utterance represents the speaker’s expression that he/she welcomes
someone.
5. Declarations: These are words and expressions that change the world by their very
utterance. They usually need to be uttered by a speaker of a special institutional role.
Examples include: “I hereby pronounce you man and wife” or “This court sentences
you to ten years in prison”.
=> We will analyze Taylor Swift's speech based on these 5 categories

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