Speech Act and Types of Speech Act

John Langshaw "J. L." Austin (March 26, 1911 – February 8, 1960) was a British philosopher of
language. He is remembered primarily as the developer of the theory of speech acts.

Austin pointed out that we use language to do things as well as to assert things, and that the
utterance of a statement like "I promise to do so-and-so" is best understood as doing
something — making a promise — rather than making an assertion about anything. Hence the
name of one (1) of his best-known works “How to Do Things with Words”.

Speech Act
In linguistics and the philosophy of language, it is an utterance that has a performative function
in language and communication. It cannot be complete until someone receives and interprets
the utterance.

Types of Speech Act

Locution (utterance) – It is the mere utterance of a string of words with a certain meaning.
Example:
Patrick: Oohh.. The basketball game.

Illocution (intention) – It is the act of speaking with the intention to interact with the receiver.

Example:
Patrick: Oohhh… The basketball game.
Luke: Today’s the final basketball game of your favorite team, isn’t?
(At this point, when Patrick said “The basketball game.”, he’s intention is clear that he wanted
Luke to interact with him.)

Perlocution (response) – It is the act of uttering words with the intention of affecting the
behavior or manner of the receiver. It is also the act of trying to bring about a certain change in
the addressee.

Example:
Patrick: Oohhh… The basketball game, please.
Luke: Ohh yeah.. The basketball game! (turn on the television to watch the basketball game)
(The reaction of Luke is an example of an affected behavior based on the utterance of words
which Patrick made)

Communication Strategies
One of the biggest sources of misunderstandings and communication breakdown is language.
By understanding what strategies are helpful, we can help resolve problems and communicate
better in English.
Studies show that the following are the twelve (12) strategies that speakers commonly resort to
when communication problems arise:

1. Message abandonment – You leave the message unfinished because of language difficulties.

2. Topic avoidance – You try not to talk about concepts difficult for you to express.

3. Circumlocution – You describe or paraphrase the target object or action.

4. Approximation – You use an alternative term (ship) to express the meaning of the target
word (sail) as closely as possible.

5. Use of all-purpose words – You expand a general word to the context where certain words
are lacking like the overuse of the words: thing, stuff, make, do, what-do-you-call-it, what-isit.

6. Word coinage – You create a new English word based on what you know of the way English
works like “vegetarianist” (which is not in the dictionary) for “vegetarian”.

7. Use of non-verbal means – You mime, gesture, use facial expression and imitate sound to
express the meaning you want.

8. Literal translation – You translate a word or an idiom from your mother tongue to English
using the structure of your first language.

9. Foreignizing – You use the word in your native language but pronounce it like English.

10. Code-switching – You use the native word or expression for the English term that expresses
the meaning you want.

11. Appeal for help – You ask other students or your teacher for help when you do not know or
forget some words, structures, or idioms.

12. Use of fillers/hesitation devices – you use filling words (uhmmm) to gain time to think.