Seminar 10.

Speech acts; felicity conditions

TASK 1. The purpose of making assertions is to describe some state of affairs. However, would the main purpose of
making the following assertions normally be simply to describe some existing state of affairs in the world?
"There is a wasp in your left ear." b. “Someone has broken the space-bar on my typewriter.” c. “This gun is loaded.” d.
“You are a [/the] fool.” warning; deny; e. “ ‘love yea.”
Now, for each of the above sentences state one or two purposes that the speaker may have had in mind when
uttering them.
Ex. The first one is done for you: To warn the hearer of the damage of being stung or to shock him or both.
All of these answers mention acts of one kind or another. Thus warning, shocking, complaining, apologizing, insulting,
reassuring etc. are all acts. They are all things that we DO using the language. An important part of the meaning of
utterances is what speakers DO by uttering them. Acts such as teasing, insulting etc. are aspects of utterance meaning
and not of sentence meaning.

We can distinguish performative utterances (and sentences) from constative utterances (and sentences).
- A PERFORMATIVE utterance is one that actually describes the act that it performs, i.e. it performs some act and
simultaneously describes it.
- A CONSTATIVE utterance is one which makes an assertion (i.e., it is often the utterance of a declarative sentence)
but is NOT performative.
TASK 2. Given the following direct speech act, write as many indirect speech acts as you can think of: “I promise that I’ll
pay you the money tomorrow”.
Compare "I promise to repay you tomorrow." "John promised to repay me tomorrow."

TASK 3. Decide whether the following verbs are performative verbs or not: apologize, authorize, condemn, sing,
forgive, know, sentence, do, confess, interrogate.

TASK 4. Decide which of the following is performative.

a. I apologize.
b. I drive a white car.
c. I name this ship The Albatross*.
d. I bet you £5 it will rain.
e. It’s started to rain/snow.
*But what if somebody sneaks up on the cruise ship The Queen Elizabeth II at dead of night as she lies in dry dock and,
in a fit of republican passion, smashes a bottle of Guinness against the hull and re-names her The Albatross? Must it
henceforward be known by everyone as The Albatross?

TASK 5. Many English verbs can be used to perform several different speech acts. Searle (1975) set up the following
classification of illocutionary speech acts:
assertives = speech acts that commit a speaker to the truth of the expressed proposition
directives = speech acts that are to cause the hearer to take a particular action, e.g. requests, commands and advice
commissives = speech acts that commit a speaker to some future action, e.g. promises and oaths
expressives = speech acts that express on the speaker's attitudes and emotions towards the proposition, e.g.
congratulations, excuses and thanks
declarations = speech acts that change the reality in accord with the proposition of the declaration, e.g. baptisms,
pronouncing someone guilty or pronouncing someone husband and wife

For each of the following verbs, determine the different speech acts each one expresses. Note any special
appropriateness conditions which apply.
a. agree; b. urge; c. swear; d. grant**; e. adopt.
** two basic meanings: 1. allow fulfillment of (grant a request); permit as a right, privilege, or favor; 2. to bestow or
transfer formally (grant a scholarship to a student)
Most usages are indirect. The speech act of requesting, for example, is very rarely performed by means of an imperative
in English. Instead, it is standardly carried out indirectly. Furthermore, there are probably many varieties of sentences
that can be used to indirectly make a request.
a. I want you to put the cake in the oven.
b. Can you put the cake in the oven?
c. Will you put the cake in the oven?
d. Would you put the cake in the oven?
e. Would you mind putting the cake in the oven?
f. You ought to put the cake in the oven.
g. May I ask you to put the cake in the oven?
h. I wonder if you’d mind putting the cake in the oven?
TASK 6. Consider the request “I want you to close the window.” Think of one direct form and at least five indirect
forms of making that request. Compare to Romanian.
Direct Close the door, please.
Indirect ….
TASK 7. Just as the same words can be used to perform different speech acts, so different words can be used to
perform the same speech act.
What speech act(s) is / are performed in the following examples?
a. What do big boys do when they come into a room, Johnny?
b. Were you born in a barn?
c. Put the wood in the hole.

Felicity conditions
Austin stated felicity conditions as follows (1962):
A: (i) there must be a conventional procedure having a conventional effect.
(ii) the circumstances and persons must be appropriate.
B: The procedure must be executed (i) correctly, (ii) completely.
C: Often
(i) the persons must have the requisite thoughts, feelings and intentions
(ii) if consequent conduct is specified, then the relevant parties must do it.
TASK 8. What are the felicity conditions for the following utterances?
a. I sentence you to ten years in a New Jersey state prison and order that you not be eligible for parole.
b. I absolve you from your sins.
c. I name this ship QUEEN ELIZABETH. May God bless her and all who sail in her.
d. Vicar: Will you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward,
for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?
Groom: Absolutely!

TASK 8. For each of the following speech acts, indicate (i) the type of speech act and (ii) its felicity condition (mainly
intentional expressed psychological state, see C above).

Example: I’ll help you with your paper tomorrow.

Answer: i. commissive ii. intention
a. (student to instructor) I will turn my paper in on Friday. commissive, intention
b. (student asks instructor) May I have an extension on the due date for my paper?
c. (instructor) I assign this paper a grade of A.
d. (instructor to the student) You passed the course.
e. (instructor to the student) I regret that you failed the exam.
f. (instructor to the students) Your papers are due on Friday.
g. (instructor to the student) Congratulations on passing the course.
h. (instructor to the students) Your papers will be marked down for each day that they are late.
i. Thank you for not smoking. The fine for smoking in this public place is 50 pounds.