SPEECH ACTS

In linguistics, a speech act is an utterance defined in terms of

a speaker's intention and the effect it has on a listener. Essentially, it is the action that
the speaker hopes to provoke in his or her audience. Speech acts might be requests,
warnings, promises, apologies, greetings, or any number of declarations. As you
might imagine, speech acts are an important part of communication.

“Speech acts are the speaker’s utterances which convey meaning and make
listeners do specific things” (Austin, 1962).

According to Kent Bach, "almost any speech act is really the performance of
several acts at once, distinguished by different aspects of the speaker's intention:
there is the act of saying something, what one does in saying it, such as requesting or
promising, and how one is trying to affect one's audience"

Speech-Act Theory.

Speech-act theory was introduced in 1975 by Oxford philosopher J.L. Austin in

"How to Do Things With Words" and further developed by American philosopher J.R.
Searle. It considers three levels or components of utterances: locutionary acts (the
making of a meaningful statement, saying something that a hearer understands),
illocutionary acts (saying something with a purpose, such as to inform), and
perlocutionary acts (saying something that causes someone to act).

So According to John L. Austin (1962) speech acts can be analyzed on three levels:

1. Locutionary act. - It is simply the speech act that has taken place the performance
of an utterance. A locutionary act is the act of using a referring expression and a
predicating expression to express a proposition. It is an utterance that produces literal
meaning.

2. Illocutionary acts. - It is the real action which is performed by the utterance. It is the
semantic 'illocutionary force' of the utterance, thus the real, intended meaning. It is a
speaker’s intention in delivering an utterance.
3. Perlocutionary act. – It has an effect on the hearer, in feelings, thoughts, or actions,
for example, changing someone's mind. It is an utterance that gives an effect to do
something.

For example: It is hot here

LOCUTIONARY ACT. – The speaker feels hot in his place

ILLOCUTIONARY ACT. - The utterance has two possible meanings inside

 An indirect request for someone to open the window.

 An indirect refusal to close the window because someone is cold.

PERLOCUTIONARY ACT. – The hearer will open/close the window.