Speech act theory Austin and Searle Austin

Speech act theory

Austin and Searle Austin, J. L. How to Do Things with Words. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1962.

6. 3. 1 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”

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):

Illocutionary acts Austin suggests three kinds of acts a. locutionary act b. illocutionary act c. perlocutinary act

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.

Searle’s classification John R. Searle’s classification : Directives Commissives Representatives Declaratives Expressives

Commissives Commissive is a speech act that commits a speaker to some future action (promises, refuses) e. g. Maybe I can do that tomorrow. Don’t worry, I’ll be there.

Representatives Representative is a speech act that commits a speaker to the truth of the expressed proposition e. g. I went to the Affandi painting exhibition. There about twenty painting on display. Some are very classic and extraordinarily awesome.

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.