POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
GRADUATE STUDIES
Sta. Mesa, Manila

Prepared by: Lennette M. Bersamin

Program: Master of Arts in English Language Teaching
Course: TESL 600 – Linguistic Foundations of Second Language Teaching

Topic: Speech Act Theory by J.L. Austin and J. Searle

Speech Acts by Austin and Searle

A speech act is a minimal functional unit in human communications. It refers to all the functions
performed through speaking or speech, and all the things done when spoken. That is, when we speak, we
perform acts. These include giving reports, making statements, making promises and soon.

In brief, speech acts can be considered as a unit of function done or performed through utterances or
speech.

Speech acts theory attempts to explain how the speakers use language to accomplish intended actions and
how hearers infer intended meaning what is said.

Philosophers like Austin and Searle offered the basic insight into this new theory of linguistic
communication based on the assumptions that the minimal units of human communication are not
linguistic expressions, but rather the performance of certain kinds of acts. But, especially the speech acts
theory very luminously originated with the philosopher John Austin’s book “How to do things with
words” (1962) in which Austin argues against the philosophical assumptions that verbal statements can
be analyzed in isolation and in terms only of their truth or falsity.

Linguistic functions of speech Act:

According to Austin (1962), Speech Act has two types of linguistic acts.
a) Constative
b) Performative

a) Constative: Constative utterances imply the assertion of something which can be either true or false. It
looks like statements.
For example,
“Death ends a life, not a relationship.”
“Don't cling to things because everything is impermanent.”
Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie

b) Performative: Performative utterances imply actions rather than statements, that is, something rather
than saying something.
For example,
“You’ve got to love me for what I am
For simply being me
Don’t love me for what you intend
Or hope that I will be”
Carpenters, Love Me For What I am

“Not yet, Rizal, not yet. Sleep not in peace”

Rafael Zulueta da Costa, Like the Molave

Austin (1962) introduced some conditions to differentiate between constative and performative
utterances. These conditions are labelled as felicity conditions, be more specific, these conditions are used
to judge per formative acts. There are four felicity conditions.
(i) There must exist an accepted conventional procedure, having a certain conventional
procedure, having a certain conventional effect, that procedure to include the uttering of
certain words by certain persons in circumstance.
 (ii) The particular persons and circumstances in a given case must be appropriate for the
invocation of the particular procedure invoked.
(iii) The procedure must be executed by all participants carefully.
(iv) The procedure must be executed completely.

Application of Austin’s felicity conditions:

Sarah: I think I might go and have another sandwich.

Katie: I was going to get another one.
Dianne: Could you get me a tuna and cheese one please?
Katie: Me as well?

Followed Austin’s Felicity conditions:

1. Katie used a generally accepted procedure for requesting by asking her friend to
bring her a sandwich.
2. The circumstances are appropriate for requesting; it is an appropriate place to talk
about sandwiches and not about wanting another one.
3. The person making the request, Katie, is an appropriate person and it is not a great
imposition.
4. The person, Katie, has the right intentions of making a request.

Austin maintains that these four conditions can be used as a frame for judging performative utterances. If
any utterance matches the frame of these conditions, it can be labelled as performative utterances.
Otherwise, it is a constative utterance.

Example of a Non-Felicitous Declaration Speech Act

A man and woman discovered one month before their wedding that their paperwork was
incomplete and that it would not be ready in time. They decided to go ahead with the wedding ceremony
and sign the papers later because all the preparations were in place. Thus, the priest’s words “I now
pronounce you man and wife” did not marry them.
• Legally, the papers were missing.
• Pragmatically, not all the felicity conditions were met
o The context and roles of the participants were recognized, the priest was saying the words
in the couple’s best interests, but the speech act “marrying” was not successful, because
they were putting on a show, for the benefit of the guests. The action was not carried out
completely, and the priest did not believe that it was possible to carry out the action, did
not have the intention to carry out the action, and was not sincere about wanting to do it.

Types of Speech Acts

Austin postulates three types of speech acts and maintains that a speaker can perform these acts
simultaneously.

1. Locutionary Act: A locutionary act refers to the saying of something which contains meaning and
permits to be understood. For example:
Read the poem.
Here the speaker does the act of saying and the hearer understands the words ‘read’, ‘the’, ‘poem’ and is
able to recognize the poem referred to.

2. Illocutionary Act: When we speak or write an utterance or a sentence to accomplish a function, it is

called an illocutionary act. That is, an illocutionary act means an act performed in saying something, for
example:
Shut the door.
This utterance may be intended as an order or a request or the like.

Searle suggests five basic categories of illocutionary speech acts.

They are:
i) Assertives: Statements may be judged true or false because they aim to describe a state of
affairs in the world.
Stating, claiming, hypothesizing, describing, telling, insisting, suggesting, asserting, or
swearing
 Examples:

“The scariest thing about distance is that you don’t know whether they’ll miss you or forget
you.”
Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

“The world is not a wish-granting factory.”

John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

“The pain we suffer is a way to make us appreciate what comes next.”

Mitch Albom, The First Phone Call from Heaven

ii) Directives: Statements attempt to make the other person’s action fit to the propositional
content.
They express what the speaker wants.
Requesting, ordering, forbidding, advising, suggesting, insisting, or recommending
Example: Would you make a cup of tea?
Could you close the window?

iii) Commissives: Statements which commit the speaker to a course of action as described by
propositional content.
Promising, threatening, volunteering, offering, guaranteeing, refusals, and pledges
Examples:
“I will be here
When you feel like being quiet
When you need to speak your mind
I will listen
And I will be here
When the laughter turns to crying
Through the winning, losing and trying
We'll be together
Cause I will be here”
Steven Curtis Chapman, I Will Be Here

iv) Expressives: Statements that express the sincerity condition of the speech act.
Examples:
I’m really sorry.
Congratulations!
Thank you for your kind offer.

“To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die.”

500 Days of Summer, Marc Webb

v) Declaratives: Statements attempt to change the world by representing it as having been

changed. In order to perform a declaration properly, the speaker has to have a special
institutional role (power) in a specific context.
Naming, appointing, resigning, firing, marrying, divorcing
Examples:
Priest: I now pronounce you as husband and wife.
Referee: You’re out!

3. Perlocutionary Act: A perlocutionary act is the result or effect produced by means of saying
something.
For example,
Would you close the door?

Considered as an illocutionary act is successful if the hearer recognizes that he should close the
door, but as perlocutionary act it succeeds only if he actually does it.

The Locutionary Act is concerned with meaning and the illocutionary act is concerned with force.
Meanwhile, the perlocutionary act is a non-linguistic act which performed as an outcome of
locutionary and illocutionary act.
References:

Mahbub, Mizan . (2012). Speech Acts and Language Teaching. Retrieved from
http://englishstudyhelp.blogspot.com/2012/05/speech-acts-and-language-teaching.html

Nordquist, R. (2017). Speech-Act Theory Definition and Examples. Retrieved from

https://www.thoughtco.com/speech-act-theory-1691986

Paltridge, B. Speech Acts: Discourse and Pragmatics. Retrieved from

http://fac.ksu.edu.sa/sites/default/files/eng_429_-_chapter_3_-_discourse_and_pragmatics.pdf

Paltridge, B. Discourse Analysis: An Introduction. Retrieved from

https://www.slideshare.net/maithamsar/brian-paltridge-discourseanalysisanintroductbookfiorg