Illocution and

Perlocution
Group 3

Member:
Doan Thuy Ngoc Khanh – 20204101
Le Thi Bich Diep – 20204073
Pham Thanh Huong – 20204095
Table of contents
01 Brief overview

02 Illocutionary Acts

03 Perlocutionary Acts

04 Illocutions and Perlocutions Relationship

05 Influencing Factors
06 Implications 

07 Conclusion
 01
Overview of Illocution
and Perlocution
Definition of Speech Acts

An utterance defined in terms of a

speaker's intention and the effect it
has on a listener.
Introduction to Illocution
and Perlocution
Speech-act theory (1975) was introduced by J.L. Austin
in "How to Do Things With Words" and developed by
J.R. Searle.

There’re 3 components:
● Locutionary acts
● Illocutionary acts
● Perlocutionary acts
Importance of understanding the
intended meaning
• Avoiding misunderstandings that may lead to
conflict or confusion

• Ensuring that the message is being interpreted

correctly

• Helping us to better understand the speaker's

intended meaning

=> Building stronger relationships

02
Illocutionary Acts
 Definition
It’s performed via the communicative force of an
utterance. This act is also called the act of doing
something in saying something.
Examples of Illocutionary Acts
Representatives
Commit the hearer to the truth of the expressed
proposition

Example: It was a warm sunny day.

Directives
Attempt by the speaker to get the addressee to do
something

Example: A: “Sweep the floor!”

B: Ok
Examples of Illocutionary Acts
Commissives
Commit the speaker to some future course of
action

Ex: I will live with you forever!

Expressives
Express a psychological or mental state of the
speaker

Ex: Sorry, I give you a seven.

Examples of Illocutionary Acts

Declarations
Use to declare something that has the ability to alter
the status or condition

Example: Judge: “You are sentenced to death”

The role of context in
interpreting Illocutionary Acts

• Having important implications for fields such as

linguistics, communication studies, and
psychology.

• Communicate effectively and to understand the

intentions and meanings
03
Perlocutions
 Definition
Perlocutionary act is called by The Act of
affecting something. It refers to the effect
the utterance has on the thoughts or actions
of the other person.
Effect on the hearer

• Perlocutionary act would include such effects as

persuading, intimidating, requesting, irritating or
inspiring the hearer
• It is used in saying something by means of
giving impact to the hearer either intentionally
or not.

Example: A father said to his son “Its almost dark, son. Enough playing
and get inside the house or you will see a ghost!”

By getting his son to be afraid so he may get inside

 Hearer response
in perlocutionary acts
•  Hearer's behavioural response to the meaning of
utterance
• The result of hearer recognizing the locution and
illocutionary point of utterance
• Responses: physicals, verbal, emotional

Example: Diana “This party is officially deceased! Come on. I’ve fixed
you up a ride home.”

The Hearer (Jane) understand Diana’s utterance and

response as follow Diana back home
Perlocutions controversy

Speaker’s intention:

● Perlocution can be intended or unintended by the

speaker (Austin,1962)
● “In communication proper,… the speaker must make
both her informative and communicative intention
mutually manifest” (Piskorska,2016)
Perlocutions controversy
Hearer’s responses:

● To exclude physical actions undertaken by the hearer

in response to messages (Piskorska,2016)

● The message goes to a cognitive processing centre

where H analyses the linguistic as well as other
contextual variables within his scope to produce a
response (Akhimien,2010)
04
Illocution and Perlocution
Relationship
Illocutions vs. Perlocutions distinction
● Any utterance, whether intended or not, and particularly a
straightforward constative utterance, has the potential to cause
perlocutions.
● Separate action (illocutions) from its consequence
● Illocutionary acts are conventional acts: perlocutionary acts are not
conventional
● Consider perlocutions as subset of illocutions
Illocutions vs. Perlocutions
connections and dependence
● A perlocutionary act presupposes an illocutionary act

● An illocutionary act need not need a perlocutionary, since a

performative act can be used to carry out an action without the
speaker intending for it to have an impact on the listener.

Example:
Stella : Are you sure this is okay? (Illocutions)
Barb : I will still be monitoring you. And, yes, it's okay (Perlocutions)
 05
Influencing Factors
Glass
1. Context: The situation, participants, and social norms
affect how speech acts are understood and interpreted.

2. Intention: The speaker's purpose or goal behind a

speech act shapes its meaning and desired effect on the
listener.

3. Cultural and Social Norms: Cultural expectations

and social rules influence the appropriateness and
effectiveness of speech acts.
Americans are more direct in their communication style than Asians
4. Emotional State: Emotions of both the speaker and listener
can influence the interpretation and impact of speech acts.
5. Language and Cultural Competence: Proficiency in
language and understanding cultural nuances play a role in
producing and understanding speech acts accurately.
6. Previous Experiences and Knowledge: Personal
experiences and background knowledge shape how speech
acts are understood and responded to.
7. Communication Channel and Medium: The method of
communication used affects how speech acts are conveyed
and received.
06
Implications
Implications
Contextual influences
Teaching speech acts is an important way to help
learners improve their communication skills.
Activities like role-play, songs, videos, stories, and
emails can all be used to develop these skills in a
contextual and authentic way.
07 Conclusion
Recap of illocution and perlocution
• Illocution: representatives, directives, commissives, declaratives, and expressives
• Perlocution

Importance of recognizing both illocutionary and perlocutionary

acts in effective communication
• Social and communicative functions
• Contextual influences
 References
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RIDGE” MOVIE. JELLT (Journal of English Language and Language Teaching). https://doi.org/10.36597/jellt.v2i1.2715
● Nordquist, R. (2019). Speech Acts in Linguistics. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/speech-act-linguistics-1692119
● Savitri, Y. D., & Widiastuti, N. M. A. (2021). Directive Illocutionary Acts Used in Mission: Impossible- Fallout Movie. e-
Journal of Linguistics, 15(2), 287. https://doi.org/10.24843/e-jl.2021.v15.i02.p15
● Putri, R. R. R. N. I., Sartini, N. W., & Fajri, M. S. A. (2020). The analysis of illocutionary acts of judges’ comments in
America’s next top model and Asia’s next top model competitions: A cross-cultural pragmatic study. JOURNAL OF
LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTIC STUDIES, 16(4), 1885–1898. https://doi.org/10.17263/jlls.851015
● Hidayat, A. (n.d.). PDF: Speech Acts: Force Behind Words. https://caritulisan.com/paper/60843/speech-acts-force-behind-
words
● Flor, A. M., & Juan, E. U. (Eds.). (2010). Speech act performance: Theoretical, empirical and methodological issues (Vol.
26). John Benjamins Publishing.
● Flor, A. M., & Juan, E. U. (Eds.). (2010). Speech act performance: Theoretical, empirical and methodological issues (Vol.
26). John Benjamins Publishing.
● Putri, R. A., Sartini, N. W., & Fajri, M. S. A. (2020, December 30). The analysis of illocutionary acts of judges’ comments
in America’s next top model and Asia’s next top model competitions: A cross-cultural pragmatic study. *Journal of
Language and Linguistic Studies*. Selcuk University. https://doi.org/10.17263/JLLS.851015
● Saleh, E. H. (2021). Teaching the Functional Meaning of Speech Acts to EFL Learners.
ResearchGate.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348818651_Teaching_the_Functional_Meaning_of_Speech_Acts
_to_EFL_Learners
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