LOGO

SPEECH ACT
By
Qomariyah 160511100006
Qurrotul Aini 160511100007

www.themegallery.com
What is speech act ?

It is an act that a speaker

performs when making an
utterance
 Austin’s Speech Act Theory

Philosopher

Searle’s Speech Act Theory

 Austin’s Speech Act Theory
 The book How to Do Things with Words
 Austin argues that saying something is the same as doing something
 Speech act and speech events are very closely related
 Speech act : actions performed via utterance
There are two types of utterances (Austin, 1962): Reality
o Constantive utterance : in which something is stated
Example: You look happy
o Performative utterance : in which something is performed
Identity
Austin said that performative utterances are characterized by "speech act
verbs" or performative verbs.
He devided two performative :
Creativity Creativity
a) Explicit performatives, marked “apology, promise, agreement,
acceptance, advice, suggestion, warning, requests, betting”
b) Implicit performatives, marked other than explicit
Example:
I promise to come to your talk tomorrow afternoon.
I’ll come to your talk tomorrow afternoon.
In the performative utterances need falicity condition; condition that must be in place and
criteria that must be satisfied for an utterance.

The classification of felicity conditions into five classes (Yule, 1996: 50), which are
elaborated as follow :

• General conditions : on participants for example they can

understand the language being used.

• Content conditions : for example a promise, the content

utterence and condition require that future event (future act of
speaker).

• Preparatory conditions : when I promise to do something, there

are two preparatory such as the event will not happen by itself and
the event will have beneficial effect.

• Sincerity conditions : for promise, the speaker genuinely intends

to carry out future action.

• Essential conditions : I thereby intend to create an obligation to

carry out the action as promised.
Every time the speaker says, he/ she performs three actions
simultaneously (Austin, 1962), namely :
 Locutionary Acts : take action of saying something. The action of the location
contains literal meaning.
Example: "It is hot here", the meaning of the locutionary is related to the
temperature of the place

 Illocutionary Acts : take action by saying something. In illocutionary acts, speakers

speak something using utterance, which makes the speaker act according to what he
says. This action has extra meaning of utterance produced on the basis of its literal
meaning.
Example: "It is hot here", the illocutionary meaning may be a request to
open the window wide, or if the sentence is repeated, it might indicate a
complaint

 Perlocutionary Acts : take action of affecting someone. Perlocutionary acts produce

effects or results, namely the results or effects caused by the expression on the
listener.
Example: "It is hot here", based on a certain context (hot air, being in a room
where windows and doors are all closed) then the results will be obtained is the
window will be opened wide or not ignored at all.
 Searle’s Speech Act Theory
Besides Austin, John Searle contributed a lot to the speech act theory. Searle focuses on
the illocutionary acts performed by the speaker.

The distribution of the illocutionary speech acts (Searle, 1969) are as follows:

 Assertives are an illocutionary speech act that binds speakers to the truth of the
propositions expressed, for example stating, suggesting, boasting, claiming and
complaining.

 Directives are an illocutionary speech acts aimed at raises several effects through
the actions of the listener, for example orderin, commanding, requesting, advising,
and recommending.

 Commissives are an illocutionary speech acts that involve speaker on several

upcoming actions, for example promising, vowing, offering. This type of speech act
tends to function pleasantly rather than competitively, carried out in a way that fills a
person's interests more than the speaker.
 Searle’s Speech Act Theory
 Expressives are an illocutionary speech act which serves to express or express the
psychological attitude of the speaker towards a statement estimated by ilocution, for
example thanking, congratulating, pardoning, blambing, praising, and condoling.

 Declarations are an illocutionary speech act which if its performance is successful

will cause good correspondence between content proportional to reality, for example
resigning, dismissing, chistening, naming, appointing, excommicating, and
sentencing.
 LOGO

www.themegallery.com