Speech Act

Types of
Speech Act
With a partner, take the quiz below and check if you can
discern the meaning behind the utterance. Answer on your
notebook.
1. Consider the phrase: “I now declare Martial
Law.” Who among the following can say this
phrase and make martial law actually happen?
a. President of the country
b. My pregnant neighbor
c. A retired veterinarian
d. A famous rock star
2. What do you think does the speaker mean when
he/she says, “Can you open the door?”
a. The speaker wants to know if I have the ability to
open the door.
b. The speaker is requesting me to open the door.
c. The speaker does not make sense.
d. The speaker is asking me a question.
3. You and your friend who has a fever enter your
room. She shivers and tells you, “It’s cold in here!”
How would you interpret what she said?
a. She feels cold.
b. She wants me to increase the temperature in the
room.
c. She does not feel well because of the cold.
d. She is complimenting the temperature in my
room.
4. Based on the scenario in item number 3, what
would your next action be?
a. I will thank my friend.
b. I will agree with her and say that the room is
cold.
c. I will increase the temperature to decrease the
coldness.
d. I will ignore my friend.
5. In which of the following statements is the
speaker making a commitment?
a. “I checked her Facebook profile yesterday.”
b. “I’m in love and I’m happy!”
c. “I promise to love you for better or for worse.”
d. “I think following my suggestion will get us a
high grade.”
Watch the first video of telephone
conversations through this link.
With your partner, discuss your answers to the
following questions.
a. What greeting is used by the customer
service agent?
b. What form of personal identification is used
by the agent?
c. What pre-closing signals are used by the
agent?
d. What closing is used by the agent?
A speech act is an utterance that a speaker makes to
achieve an intended effect. Some of the functions
which are carried out using speech acts are offering
an apology, greeting, request, complaint, invitation,
compliment, or refusal. A speech act might contain
just one word or several words or sentences.
For example, “Thanks” and “Thank you for always
being there for me. I really appreciate it” both show
appreciation regardless of the length of the
statement.
Three Types of Speech Act
According to J. L. Austin (1962), a philosopher of language and the
developer of the Speech Act Theory, there are three types of acts in every
utterance, given the right circumstances or context.
These are:
1. Locutionary act is the actual act of uttering.
“Please do the dishes.”
2. Illocutionary act is the social function of what is said.
By uttering the locution “Please do the dishes,” the speaker requests the
addressee to wash the dishes.
3. Perlocutionary act is the resulting act of what is said. This effect is
based on the particular context in which the speech act was mentioned.
“Please do the dishes” would lead to the addressee washing the dishes.
Performatives
Austin also introduced the concept of performative
utterances: statements which enable the speaker to
perform something just by stating it. In this
manner, verbs that execute the speech act that they
intend to effect are called performatives.
A performative utterance said by the right person
under the right circumstances results in a change
in the world. Note that certain conditions have to
be met when making a performative utterance.
For example, the phrase “I now pronounce you
husband and wife,” when uttered by an authorized
person such as a judge will have the actual effect of
binding a couple in marriage. However, if the same
statement is uttered to the same couple in the same
place by someone who is not authorized to marry
them—as in the case of the accompanying picture, a
robot—then there is no effect whatsoever because a
condition was not met.
Searle’s Classifications of Speech Act
As a response to Austin’s Speech Act Theory, John
Searle (1976), a professor from the University of
California, Berkeley, classified illocutionary acts into
five distinct categories.
1. Assertive – a type of illocutionary act in which the
speaker expresses belief about the truth of a proposition.
Some examples of an assertive act are suggesting,
putting forward, swearing, boasting, and concluding.
Example:
No one makes better pancakes than I do.
2. Directive – a type of illocutionary act in which the speaker
tries to make the addressee perform an action. Some examples
of a directive act are asking, ordering, requesting,
inviting, advising, and begging.
Example:
Please close the door.
3. Commissive – a type of illocutionary act which commits the
speaker to doing something in the future. Examples of a
commissive act are promising, planning, vowing, and betting.
Example:
From now on, I will participate in our group activity
4. Expressive – a type of illocutionary act in which the speaker expresses his/her
feelings or emotional reactions. Some examples of an expressive act are
thanking, apologizing, welcoming, and deploring.
Example:
I am so sorry for not helping out in our group projects and letting you do all the
work.
5. Declaration – a type of illocutionary act which brings a change in the
external situation. Simply put, declarations bring into existence or cause the
state of affairs which they refer to. Some examples of declarations are blessing,
firing, baptizing, bidding, passing a sentence, and excommunicating.
Example:
You are fired!
By saying that someone is fired, an employer causes or brings about the person’s
unemployment, thus changing his external situation.
Pair Activity.
Work with your partner from the Let’s Work and
Learn activity. Watch the second video below. Pay
attention to details like greetings, personal
identification, and pre-closing and closing
signals.
Video 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2E
wBB5McJo
Compare the greeting, pre-closing, and closing
in Video 2 to those in Video 1. How are they

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