By Dr.

Laila Mortada
 AN ORDINARY VERBAL
EXCHANGE

Would you like half

of my lobster?
It’s huge.

No, thanks. I’m full.

 SPEECH ACT THEORY

Let’s explore what went on between

Bill and John in the exchange above.
And let’s not forget Mary.
According to Speech Act Theory,
A number of things happened

Bill said something (“Would you like half of my
lobster?”) to John

Bill spoke a meaningful utterance in a language

What Bill said asked a question (syntax)

What Bill said had some meaning associated with the

words in the utterance, e.g., “you” referred to John;
“lobster” referred to the food on Bill’s plate
According to Speech Act
Theory

 More things happened
 Bill offered John some of his lobster
 John rejected the offer
 John gave a reason for rejecting the offer
 John expressed his gratitude for the offer
 Bill’s offer had the effect (perlocutionary act) of John’s
feeling like Bill likes him
 Bill’s offer had the effect of Mary’s feeling left out
According to Speech Act
Theory
•

Bill’s utterance contained a number of propositions.

•Bill felt relieved that John turned down his offer,

because he really wanted the whole lobster

And more--would you like to speculate on what else

went on in this exchange?
 HOW DO RECIPIENTS OF AN
UTTERANCE KNOW WHAT SPEECH ACT
THE SPEAKER IS DOING?

 They know what the rules are for a particular speech
act
 constitutive rules
 regulative rules
 They know the context of the utterance
 cultural
 social
 personal
 physical Speech Act Families
 Constitutive Rules

Constitutive rules define an event. For instance, each
piece in a chess game is allowed to move in certain
ways and to capture in certain ways as defined by the
rules of the game of chess.

This type of rule is what is being called a constitutive

rule.

The rules make the event mean a certain thing or

count as a certain thing, e.g., putting a basketball
through
the hoop counts as a score, one point, two points, three
points, depending on where the shot is taken from. MORE ON
CONSTITUTIVE RULES

Can you think of other examples?

 Conventional Foundations
(Conditions) Constitute Speech Acts

(constitutive rules)

For an utterance to work properly as a particular speech

act, certain characteristics must be present in the
communicative situation, such as the occurrence of
particular beliefs and intentions.

That the speaker and hearer are using the same language,
they can hear one another. For a promise, e.g., that the
speaker says something about the speaker’s future behavior,
that the hearer can infer that the speaker believes he/she is
able to perform the behavior, and more.
 Regulative Rules
Rules that constrain when
and where we may do a particular
act. Greetings, e.g., should be done when people first make
contact (not in the middle of the conversation).

Initial greetings should be returned (answered).

Regulative rules are social norms.

 Imagination

 Let’s explore via speculation some possible contexts
for this conversational excerpt.

 Please offer some possible scenarios

 Basic Categories of
Speech Acts

 There are 4 categories of speech acts; the first one is of
course, utterances. But what we say it has three kinds of
meaning, and they are:
 propositional meaning - the literal meaning of what is
said E.g., it’s  hot in here.
 illocutionary meaning - the social function of what is said.
E.g., it’s hot in here,  could be:- An indirect request for
someone to open the window- An indirect refusal to close
the window because someone is cold- A complaint
implying that someone should know better than to keep
the windows closed (expressed emphatically).
 Basic Categories

 Perlocutionary meaning - the effect of what is said.
E.g.  It's hot in here could result in someone opening
the windows.

 Don’t Forget: Illocutionary: A linguistic act

performed by a speaker in producing an utterance,
as suggesting, warning, promising, or requesting.
 Searle’s Speech Act Categories

 Commissives
 Directives
 Assertives
 Expressives
 Declarations
 Commissives

A commissive is an utterance that commits the speaker to

some future behavior.

The speaker commits himself (or herself) to a (future) course

of action, with verbs such as: guarantee, pledge, promise,
 swear, vow, undertake, warrant, plan, vow, bet, oppose.
E.g. I'm planning to fly to Paris tomorrow.
 Directives

 The purpose of a directive is to get the recipient to do
something.
 Examples of directives are:
 requests
 commands
 suggestions
 giving permission

 E.g. could you please close the window?

 Assertives

 The purpose of an assertive is to display the speaker’s
belief in the propositional content of the utterance.
 E.g., Bill has displayed his belief in the proposition, “This
[sandwich] is huge.”
 Assertive includes:
 statements, descriptions, assertions, predictions,
speculations

 The speaker asserts a proposition to be true, using such

verbs as: affirm, believe, conclude, deny, report, swear,
boast, suggest. E.g.  I swear to God I love you!
 Expressives

 The speaker expresses an attitude to or about a state of
affairs, using such verbs as: apologize, appreciate,
congratulate, deplore, detest, regret, thank, welcome.

 E.g. I am sorry that I lied to you.

 Declarations

When a properly authorized speaker
performs a declaration under the proper
conditions (as defined not only by pragmatic
language conventions, but also by the rules of
the particular institution involved), such a
“successful performance guarantees that the
propositional content corresponds to the
world” (Searle, 1979, p. 17).
 E.g., “You’re fired” uttered by the boss to an
employee--the employee is thereby fired
 Declarations

 The speaker alters the external status or condition of
an object or situation, solely by making the utterance:
  I now pronounce you man and wife.
  I sentence you to behanged by the neck until you be dead.
 I name this ship Queen Elizabeth.
 You are fired!
