2. Charles W. Kreidler
• Kreidler, Charles W. Introducing English
Semantics. Taylor & Francis e-Library,
2002.
3. Speech act
• Speech act theory was proposed by John L.
Austin and has been developed by J. R. Searle.
They believe that language is not only used to
inform or to describe things, it is often used
to “do things”, to perform acts.
Ex. (1) You’re fired.
(2) “There is a policeman on the corner”
4. • “There is a policeman at the corner.”
• This could be a warning, an assurance, a dare, a
hint, or a reminder to go and take your car out of
the handicapped space you are parked in.
5. • “I promise I’ll be there tomorrow.”
• This could be a threat or a promise, depending
on whether his presence tomorrow is a
disadvantage or an advantage to the listener.
Contrast the sentence above with:
• “If you don’t behave, I promise you there’s
going to be trouble.” This sentence says it’s a
“promise,” but it’s a “threat.”
6. • Actions performed via utterances are
generally called speech acts, the uttering
of the relevant words is the action itself;
without the utterance the action is not
done. These are called performative
sentences and the verbs used are called
performative verbs (Vp):
7. 3 kinds of acts
• Austin suggests three kinds of acts
a. locutionary act
b. illocutionary act
c. perlocutinary act
8. The speech act theory
• a. Locutionary act: the act of saying, the literal
meaning of the utterance
• b. illocutionary act: the extra meaning of the
utterance produced on the basis of its literal meaning
• c. perlocutionary act: the effect of the utterance
on the hearer, depending on specific circumstances.
9. (1) It’s stuffy in here.
•The locutionary act is
the saying of it with its
literal meaning “There
isn’t enough fresh air in
here”.
10. (1) It’s stuffy in here.
•The illocutionary
act can be a request
of the hearer to
open the window.
11. (1) It’s stuffy in here.
• The perlocutinary act can be the
hearer’s opening the window or his
refusal to do so. In fact, we might utter
(1) to make a statement, a request, an
explanation, or for some other
communicative purposes. This is also
generally known as the illocutionary
force of the utterance.
12. • Husband: That’s the phone.
• Wife: I’m in the bathroom.
• Husband: Okay.
Its illocutionary acts are:
•(i) a refusal to comply with the
request
• (ii) a request to her husband to
answer the phone instead.
13. Speech act functions
• 1) Exchange factual information
The plain departs at 7:10.
• 2) Exchange intellectual information
These arguments are correct.
• 3) Exchange emotional attitudes
I’m worried about my term papers.
14. • 4) Exchange moral attitudes
I appreciate your help.
• 5) Persuasion
Hand in your assignments.
• 6) Socializing
Hi, Larry, how are you?
15. Indirect speech acts
• “Could you move over a bit?”
• “Yes” (without moving is inappropriate)
• Moving (without “Yes” is appropriate)
• NOTE: “Could you move over a bit” is a
precondition to the actual speech act, “Move over.”
16. Ironic Speech Acts
• I promise not to keep this promise.
• Do not read this sign.
• You did a great job, and I’m not being polite.
• George Lakoff wrote a book entitled, Don’t
Think of an Elephant.
17. Silence as a speech acts
• In Mexico in the old days, the Federales would
pull a person over and ask to see their driver’s
license.
• Before handing over the driver’s license the
driver would attach a $20 bill onto the back of
the license.
• Nothing was said by either party. Was this,
therefore, a bribe, or not?
