This document discusses speech act theory, primarily based on the works of philosophers J.L. Austin and John Searle, which posits that language does more than convey meaning; it often performs actions. It categorizes utterances into constatives and performatives and explores the components of effective communication, including locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary forces. The document also identifies five types of speech acts as defined by Searle, emphasizing the contextual and goal-oriented nature of communication.

1. SPEECHACTS
Dr. Stuti Khare,
Department of English
Isabella Thoburn College,
Lucknow

2. Definition:
“an utterance made by a certain speaker/author
to a hearer/reader in a certain context”
-B. Kortmann.

3. The theory of the Speech Act is derived mainly from the work
of two philosophers:
J John Langshaw Austin, in his book, How to do Things
Things with Words (1961) suggested that all speech and all
utterance is the doing of something with words and
signs.
John Rogers Searle, Austin’s pupil synthesized ideas
from mp from philosophers including Paul Grice and further
elabora elaborated on the Speech Act theory by giving his
account of Austin’s concept of illocutionary acts.
,

4. The basic tenets:
When humans use language, they actually ‘do’
something more than simply uttering those
words.
There is more to language than just the meaning
of individual words and phrases. The intentions
and the goals of the speaker/addresser are also
important.
Statements cannot be evaluated only in terms of
truth or falsity.

5. From a speech act theoretical point of view, there can be two
types of utterances:
Constatives:
 statements which can be judged as true or false
 describe a situation or assert a fact.
 state whether something is or not.
 e.g. New Delhi is the capital of India.
Performatives:
 Explicit illocutionary acts.
 Cannot be verified as true or false.
 Part of doing or accomplishing an action.
 e.g. I promise to be regular in attending my classes

6. The content of an utterance can be divided
into two components.
Sense:
normal, logical meaning.
act of producing a grammatical sentence
Force:
performative meaning
Act performed in uttering a sentence.

7. Communication:
 In speech act theory, communication is considered to
be contextual, dynamic and goal-oriented.
 Usually, the speaker has an intention while
communicating. The communication can be
considered successful only if the hearer understands
the intention and acts accordingly.
For example, consider the following sentence:
“It’s so hot in here!”
In the above example, the intention of the speaker is
not simply to describe the weather, it may be a request
for some action on part of the hearer, like switching on
the fan or bringing a glass of water.

8. A speech act consists of three parts:
i) The Locutionary force: the utterance of a sentence with
grammar, sense and reference. It refers to the
phonological/syntactic and semantic properties of the
sentence.
ii) The Illocutionary force: the speaker’s communicative
intentions and goals; the action that is performed
through the utterance, e.g. the making of a statement,
offer, promise, warning etc. in uttering a sentence.
iii) The Perlocutionary force: the effect of the utterance
on the hearer like persuading, deterring, surprising,
misleading or convincing.

9. Kinds of Speech Acts
According to Searle, there are five basic kinds of actions that can be
performed in speaking, hence five kinds of speech acts:
i) Assertives and representatives: which are used to describe the world, and
commit the speaker to the truth of the expressed proposition (paradigm
cases: asserting, concluding etc.).
ii) Directives: which are attempts by the speaker to get the addressee to do
something (paradigm cases: requesting, questioning, giving an order) .
iii) Commissives: which commit the speaker to some future course of action
which will also change the world in some way. (paradigm cases: promising,
threatening, offering).
iv) Expressives: which are used to express a psychological state, or the
feelings and opinions of the speaker. (paradigm cases: thanking,
apologizing, congratulating).
v) Declarations: which effect immediate changes in the institutional state of
affairs (paradigm cases: excommunicating, declaring war, christening,
firing from employment.)

10. Felicity conditions:
Austin presented a typology of conditions
necessary for the success of a speech act:
He distinguished three main categories:
Conventional procedure
Proper execution: correct and complete
Circumstances and persons: appropriate as
specified in the procedure

11. Suggested readings:
Key Terms in Stylistics by Nina Norgaard, Rocio
Montoro and Beatrix Busse.
Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and
Prose by Mick Short.