INDIRECT SPEECH ACTS

Read the following conversations and specify:

a) which Direct or literal SA the utterances make
b) which is the intention of the Speaker beyond the Direct Act; what does the Speaker
mean/imply/suggest
c) does the Hearer understand the Speakers intention in the ISA correctly? How does the Hearer
respond?
[1]
[Peggy and Al are giving the kids their dental check-ups and plan on forging the forms]
STEVE: Uh, excuse me, but doesn't anybody know that this is against the law?
AL:

So's dressing up a chicken and calling it your wife. (assertion)

MARCY: I am not a chicken!

Marcy turns to Steve, puts her hands on her hips and bends down and talks to him, remarkably resembling a
chicken.
MARCY: Why does he keep calling me a chicken???
STEVE: Now, Marcy, don't get your feathers ruffled.
(Married with Children)
[2]
[Leonard and Kurt (Pennys ex-boyfriend) arguing at Pennys Halloween party]
LEONARD:

Okay, I understand your impulse to try to physically intimidate me. I mean, you cant compete

with me on an intellectual level and so youre driven to animalistic puffery.

KURT: Are you calling me a puffy animal?
PENNY:

Of course not, no, hes not, youre not, right Leonard?

LEONARD:

No, I said animalistic. Of course were all animals, but some of us have climbed a little higher

on the evolutionary tree.

SHELDON: If he understands that, youre in trouble.
KURT: So what, Im unevolved?
SHELDON: Youre in trouble.
(The Big Bang Theory)

Hannah: This place is totally cool , its like working in a spaceship.

Brennan: Well, I wouldnt know. I, I trained for a shuttle mission once, but never got to go.

[3]
Alices parents: Why are you treating her for Mononucleosis?
House: Sorry, I didnt know you wanted your kid dead. Although for a couple of G's, I can still make it
happen.
( 4) Dr. Foreman: I thought everybody lied. U1
Dr. House: Truth begins in lies. Think about it.U2
Dr. Foreman: That doesn't mean anything, does it? U3
(5) Orange-Colored Patient: What's that? What are you doing? U1
Dr. House: Painkillers. U2
Orange-Colored Patient: Oh, for you, for your leg.
Dr. House: No, because they're yummy. U3

(6) House: Where are you going?

Wilson: Out to lunch.
House: You never go out to lunch, which mean there is a reason you go out to lunch and I assume
that reason is a human being?
Wilson: Or a sandwich.
House: Sandwiches can come here!...
Wilson: So as human beings!
House: Yeah, but she is not here which I found interesting.
[7]
"(i) How you uh, how you comin' on that big novel you've been working on for 3 years? (ii) Nice little
narrative? Beginning, middle, and end? Some friends become enemies, some enemies become friends? At
the end your main character is richer from the experience?
(Family Guy)