1) Speech acts are utterances that perform actions rather than just communicating information, such as apologizing, promising, or naming a ship. 2) Austin categorized speech acts as locutionary (the act of communication), illocutionary (the message or action conveyed), or perlocutionary (the effect on the listener). 3) Searle identified five categories of speech acts: representatives that commit the speaker to a belief, directives that try to get the listener to do something, commissives that commit the speaker to an action, expressives that express the speaker's attitude, and declarations that change the status quo through the utterance.

1. Speech Acts
Direct and indirect speech acts
Munsif sial
Uet lahore

2. ∗ Speech Events may also include Speech Acts. J.L
Austin observed that ‘many utterances do not
communicate information, but are equivalent to
actions, e.g.
∗ I apologise…’
∗ I promise….’
∗ ‘I will….’ (at a wedding’
∗ ‘I name this ship….’
Speech Acts

3. ∗ Austin called such utterances performatives, which
he saw as distinct from statements that convey
information (constatives).
I christen/name this ship The Queen Elisabeth
(performative).
Maurice Garin won the Tour de France in 1903
(constative)
∗ Performatives cannot be true or false.
Performatives

4. ∗ Explicit performatives are performative utterances
that contain a performative verb that makes explicit
what kind of act is being performed.
I promise to come to your talk tomorrow afternoon.
∗ implicit performatives are performative utterances
in which there is no such verb.
I’ll come to your talk tomorrow afternoon.
Explict vs implicit performatives

5. Other common Speech Acts are:
∗ apology,
∗ promise,
∗ agreement
∗ acceptance
∗ advice
∗ suggestion
∗ warning
∗ requests
∗ betting
∗ to second
∗ to vote
∗ to abstain
Common explicit performatives

6. Representatives: the speaker is committed in varying
degrees to the truth of a proposition:
e.g. ‘affirm’, ‘believe,’ ‘conclude’, ‘report’;
I think the Berlin Wall came down in 1989
Directives: the speaker tries to do something
e.g. ‘ask’, ‘challenge’, ‘command’, ‘request’.
Pass me the towel, will you?
Searle’s Five Categories of Speech Acts

7. Commissives: the speaker is committed invarying degrees, to a certain course of action,
e.g. ‘bet’, ‘guarantee,’ ‘pledge’, ‘promise’‘swear’.
That’s the last time I’ll waste my money on so-called bargains
Expressives: the speaker expresses an attitudeabout a state of affairs,
e.g., ‘apologise’, ‘deplore’, ‘thank’, ‘welcome’-
Well done, Elisabeth!

8. ∗ Declarations: the speaker alters the status quo by
making the utterance,
∗ e.g., I resign, you’re offside’, ‘I name this child’,
‘you’re nicked’, ‘you’re busted, punk.’

9. ∗ the locutionary act or the locution: the act
of communication by the production of an
utterance;
∗ the illocutionary act or illocution: in other
words, that is the message that is
transmitted, which may not always
correspond to the literal meaning of the
words;
∗ the perlocutionary act: that is the
The three stages of a (successful) speech act

10. ∗ Locutionary act  (and that is enough for today)
∗
∗ Illocutionary act  ( students make preparations
to quit the room)
∗
∗ Perloctionary act (you realise that a change has
occurred)
‘And that is enough for today…’

11. ∗ the person performing the speech act has to have authority to
do so – only certain people are authorised to perform certain
speech acts;
the speech act has to be performed in the appropriate manner
(sometimes this involves respecting precise wording), this can
also include the demeanour
∗ sincerity conditions have to be present: the speech act must be
performed in a sincere manner: verbs such as promise, vow, or
guarantee are only valid if they are uttered sincerely.
So a speech act like ‘and that is enough for today’ can only be
taken as a declaration that the lesson has ended if:
∗ I have the authority to perform the speech act;
∗ If the hearers are in a position to perform the required action;
∗ And if there is sincerity.
Felicity conditions

12. ∗ For many reasons, perhaps because we are abiding by
the politeness principle, for example, and we don’t
wish to impose – we may ask for something to be
done indirectly. ‘Can you pass the salt?’ is not really a
question, but a directive; and answer of ‘yes’, without
an attempt to pass it would be totally inappropriate
and would violate the maximum of relevance.
Indirect Speech Acts

13. ∗ The three basic sentence types (declarative,
interrogative, imperative) are typically associated
with the three basic illocutionary forces:
∗ Declarative: asserting/ stating;
∗ Interrogative: asking/questioning;
∗ imperative: ordering/requesting.
Sentence type and illocutionary force

14. ∗ A direct match between a sentence type and an
illocutionary force, equals a direct speech act.
∗ In addition, explicit performatives, which happen to be in
the declarative form, are also taken to be direct speech
acts, because they have their illocutionary force explicitly
named by the performative verb in the main part of the
sentence.
∗ If there is no direct relationship between a sentence type
and an illocutionary force, it indicates an indirect speech
act.
∗ When an explicit performative is used to make a request it
functions as a direct speech act; the same is the case when
Difference between direct and indirect
speech acts

15. ∗ Shut the door!
∗ I’d be grateful, if you’d shut the door.
∗ Could you shut the door?
∗ It’d help to have the door shut.
∗ It’s getting cold in here. Shall we keep out
the draught?
∗
From Speech Act to Gradation of Indirect
Speech Act