Speech

Acts
Speech Acts
an utterance that serves a function
in communication

is defined in terms of a
speaker’s intention and
the effect it has on a
listener
 Communicative
Competence
when to speak

When not to speak

What to talk about with whom, when,

where, in what manner
Speech Act Theory
- How speakers use
language to
accomplish intended
actions
- How listeners
understand intended
meaning from what is
said
Kinds
of
Speech
Acts
Locutionary Act (locutionary function)

act of producing a meaningful linguistic

expression or sentence

Parts:
Referring proposition
Predicating expression

Can be expressed or
implied
Illocutionary Act (illocution)
the act accomplished in speaking and
defined within a system of social
conventions
saying something with a specific
intention
Perlocutionary Act (Perlocutionary effect)
an action or state of the mind brought
about by, or as a consequence of saying
something

saying something that causes someone to

change their feelings, thoughts, or actions
 SPEECH ACTS
Constatives Performatives

This group This group

refers to consists of
words or words/sentences
sentences that denote and
that describes inspire an action
true or false
Performatives depend on the
context and reception

Felicity
Conditions
Are the rules under which a
performative can be active

Felicity
Conditions
 Have
Be
proper
understood
authority

Be able to
Be clear be
executed

Felicity
Conditions
 I now declare Martial Law.

I now pronounce you man and wife…

Smoking can cause cancer.

John Searle’s
Classifications
of
Illocutionary Acts
 Assertive
the speaker expresses belief
about the truth of proposition
(suggesting, swearing, boasting,
concluding)
 Directives
the speaker tries to make the
addressee perform an action
(asking, ordering, requesting,
inviting, advising, begging)
 Commissive
commits the speaker to doing
something in the future
(promising, planning,
vowing,betting)
 Expressive
the speaker expresses his/her
feelings or emotional reactions
(thinking, apologizing,
welcoming, deploring)
 Declaration
a change in the external
situation
(blessing, firing, baptizing,,
bidding, passing a sentence, and
excommunicating)
KNOWLEDGE CHECK
1. I will turn my paper in on Friday.
(by student to instructor)
2. Ruth’s essay is the best in the class.
(by the instructor)
3. You have to do better than this.
(by coach to his team)
4. Your papers will be marked down for
each day that you are late.
(by instructor to the students)
5. You passed the course.
(instructor to the students)
Paired Activity
1. Design a dialogue applying the different types
of illocutionary acts.
2. Decide on the setting and the characters.
3. You will be graded using this criteria:
Content – 10
Accuracy of details - 5
Creativity - 3
Neatness - 2
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