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    TOPIC 3 ENGL 443 Speech Act Theory

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    Speech act theory analyzes the ways in which utterances can be used to perform actions, beyond just presenting information. It considers locutionary acts (the act of saying something), illocutionary acts (the intention or point of an utterance, like requesting or ordering), and perlocutionary acts (effects or consequences of an utterance, like convincing or persuading someone). The theory was introduced by J.L. Austin and developed further by J.R. Searle, focusing on classifying the types of acts utterances can perform.

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    TOPIC 3 ENGL 443 Speech Act Theory

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    mangwangwa
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    Speech act theory analyzes the ways in which utterances can be used to perform actions, beyond just presenting information. It considers locutionary acts (the act of saying something), illocutionary acts (the intention or point of an utterance, like requesting or ordering), and perlocutionary acts (effects or consequences of an utterance, like convincing or persuading someone). The theory was introduced by J.L. Austin and developed further by J.R. Searle, focusing on classifying the types of acts utterances can perform.

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    Speech act theory analyzes the ways in which utterances can be used to perform actions, beyond just presenting information. It considers locutionary acts (the act of saying something), illocutionary acts (the intention or point of an utterance, like requesting or ordering), and perlocutionary acts (effects or consequences of an utterance, like convincing or persuading someone). The theory was introduced by J.L. Austin and developed further by J.R. Searle, focusing on classifying the types of acts utterances can perform.

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    49 views17 pages

    TOPIC 3 ENGL 443 Speech Act Theory

    Uploaded by

    mangwangwa
    Speech act theory analyzes the ways in which utterances can be used to perform actions, beyond just presenting information. It considers locutionary acts (the act of saying something), illocutionary acts (the intention or point of an utterance, like requesting or ordering), and perlocutionary acts (effects or consequences of an utterance, like convincing or persuading someone). The theory was introduced by J.L. Austin and developed further by J.R. Searle, focusing on classifying the types of acts utterances can perform.

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    TOPIC 3: SPEECH ACT THEORY

    Speech Act Theory

    • It is a subfield of pragmatics concerned with the ways


    in which words can be used not only to present
    information but also to carry out actions. See speech
    act.
    • Speech-act theory, as introduced by Oxford
    philosopher J.L. Austin (How to Do Things With Words,
    1962) and further developed by American philosopher
    J.R. Searle, considers the types of acts that utterances
    can be said to perform:
    • Locutionary Acts
    • Illocutionary Acts
    • Perlocutionary Acts
    Illustrations
    • In the past three decades, speech act theory
    has become an important branch of the
    contemporary theory of language thanks
    mainly to the influence of [J.R.] Searle (1969,
    1979) and [H.P.] Grice (1975) whose ideas on
    meaning and communication have stimulated
    research in philosophy and in human and
    cognitive sciences
    Illustrations
    • From Searle's view, there are only five illocutionary points
    that speakers can achieve on propositions in an utterance,
    namely: the assertive, commissive, directive, declaratory
    and expressive illocutionary points
    • Speakers achieve the assertive point when they represent
    how things are in the world, the commissive point when
    they commit themselves to doing something, the directive
    point when they make an attempt to get hearers to do
    something, the declaratory point when they do things in
    the world at the moment of the utterance solely by virtue
    of saying that they do and the expressive point when they
    express their attitudes about objects and facts of the world.
    Illustrations
    • This typology of possible illocutionary points
    enabled Searle to improve Austin's
    classification of performative verbs and to
    proceed to a reasoned classification of
    illocutionary forces of utterances which is not
    as language-dependent as that of Austin."
    (Daniel Vanderkeven and Susumu Kubo,
    "Introduction." Essays in Speech Act Theory.
    John Benjamins, 2002)
    Locutionary Acts

    • The act of making a meaningful utterance. Also known


    as locution. The term locutionary act was introduced
    by British philosopher John L. Austin in How to Do
    Things With Words (1962).
    • A locutionary act has to do with the simple act of a
    speaker saying something, i.e. the act of producing a
    meaningful linguistic expression. It consists of three
    sub-acts. they are (i) a phonic act of producing an
    utterance-inscription, (ii) a phatic act of composing a
    particular linguistic expression in a particular language,
    and (iii) a rhetic act of contextualizing the utterance-
    inscription
    Locutionary Acts
    • The first of these three sub-acts is concerned
    with the physical act of producing a certain
    sequence of vocal sounds (in the case of a spoken
    language), which is also called a phonetic act, or a
    set of written symbols (in the case of a written
    language).
    • The second refers to the act of constructing a
    well-formed string of sounds and/or symbols, be
    it a word, phrase, sentence, or discourse, in a
    particular language.
    Locutionary Acts
    • These two sub-acts are grouped by the
    American philosopher John Searle as
    performing an utterance act. The third sub-act
    is responsible for tasks such as assigning
    reference, resolving deixis, and
    disambiguating the utterance-inscription. This
    is referred to as a propositional act by Searle.
    Locutionary Acts
    • Thus, if John says to Mary, Pass me the
    glasses, please, meaning 'Hand the glasses
    over to me' with me referring to himself and
    glasses to spectacles, he performs the
    locutionary act of uttering the sentence Pass
    me the glasses, please."
    (Yan Huang, The Oxford Dictionary of
    Pragmatics. Oxford University Press, 2012)
    Illocutionary Acts

    • It is a speaker's intention in delivering an


    utterance.
    • The terms illocutionary act and illocutionary
    force were introduced by British linguistic
    philosopher John L. Austin in How to Do
    Things With Words (1962).
    Illocutionary Act and Illocutionary
    Force
    • An illocutionary act refers to the type of
    function a speaker intends to accomplish in
    the course of producing an utterance. It is an
    act accomplished in speaking and defined
    within a system of social conventions.
    • Thus, if John says to Mary Pass me the glasses,
    please, he performs the illocutionary act of
    requesting or ordering Mary to hand the
    glasses over to him.
    Illocutionary Act and Illocutionary
    Force
    • The functions or actions just mentioned are also
    referred to as the illocutionary force or
    illocutionary point of the speech act.
    • The illocutionary force of a speech act is the
    effect a speech act is intended to have by a
    speaker. Indeed, the term 'speech act' in its
    narrow sense is often taken to refer specifically to
    illocutionary act."
    (Yan Huang, The Oxford Dictionary of Pragmatics.
    Oxford University Press, 2012)
    Pragmatic Competence
    • Achieving pragmatic competence involves the
    ability to understand the illocutionary force of
    an utterance, that is, what a speaker intends
    by making it. This is particularly important in
    cross-cultural encounters since the same form
    (e.g. 'When are you leaving?') can vary in its
    illocutionary force depending on the context
    in which it is made (e.g. 'May I have a ride
    with you?' or 'Don't you think it is time for you
    to go?').
    Pragmatic Competence
    • (Sandra Lee McKay, Teaching English as an
    International Language. Oxford Univ. Press, 2002)
    What I Really Mean . . .
    "When I say 'how are you' to a co-worker, I really
    mean hello. Although I know what I mean by
    'how are you,' it is possible that the receiver does
    not know that I mean hello and actually proceeds
    to give me a fifteen minute discourse on his
    various maladies."
    (George Ritzer, Sociology: A Multiple Paradigm
    Science. Allyn & Bacon, 1980)
    Perlocutionary Acts

    • It is an action or state of mind brought about by, or as a


    consequence of, saying something.
    • Intuitively, a perlocutionary act is an act performed by
    saying something, and not in saying something. Persuading
    • angering, inciting, comforting and inspiring are often
    perlocutionary acts; but they would never begin an answer
    to the question 'What did he say?' Perlocutionary acts, in
    contrast with locutionary and illocutionary acts, which are
    governed by conventions, are not conventional but natural
    acts (Austin (1955), p. 121). Persuading, angering, inciting,
    etc. cause physiological changes in the audience, either in
    their states or behavior; conventional acts do not."
    (Aloysius Martinich, Communication and Reference. Walter
    de Gruyter, 1984)
    Perlocutionary Acts
    • In the perlocutionary instance, an act is
    perfomed by saying something. For example, if
    someone shouts 'fire' and by that act causes
    people to exit a building which they believe to be
    on fire, they have performed the perlocutionary
    act of convincing other people to exit the
    building.
    • In another example, if a jury foreperson declares
    'guilty' in a courtroom in which an accused
    person sits, the illocutionary act of declaring a
    person guilty of a crime has been undertaken.
    Perlocutionary Acts
    • The perlocutionary act related to that illocution is
    that, in reasonable circumstances, the accused
    person would be convinced that they were to be
    led from the courtroom into a jail cell.
    • Perlocutionary acts are acts intrinsically related to
    the illocutionary act which precedes them, but
    discrete and able to be differentiated from the
    illocutionary act."
    (Katharine Gelber, Speaking Back: The Free
    Speech Versus Hate Speech Debate. John
    Benjamins, 2002)

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