Introduction to Semantics & Pragmatics (TRAJ 322)

Lecture 10: Speech acts

Chapter 18

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 Lecture Outline
-What is Pragmatics?
-Semantics VS. Pragmatics

1. Introduction
2. Performatives
The hereby test of performatives 2.1
Types of performatives 2.2
a. Explicit performatives
b. Implicit performatives
3. Locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts
4. Illocutionary acts
5. Classifying speech acts
6. Conditions for the successful performance of speech acts
6.1 Preparatory conditions
6.2 Sincerity conditions
6.3 Essential conditions
7. Direct and indirect speech acts
7.1 How to make a direct speech act
7.2 How to make an indirect speech act
8. Force Vs. proposition

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 ?What is Pragmatics
.Pragmatics is the study of speaker meaning*
.Pragmatics is the study of contextual meaning*
Pragmatics is the study of how more gets*
.communicated than what is actually said
Distance determines the choice between the said and-
.the unsaid
On the assumption of how close or distant the listener -
.is, speakers determine how much needs to be said
Pragmatics is the study of the expression of relative
distance
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 Semantics VS. Pragmatics
Pragmatics Semantics
Pragmatics is the study of the Semantics is the study of the relationship
relationship between linguistic forms and between linguistics forms and entries in
.the users of those forms .the world
Pragmatics is concerned with people’s Semantics is concerned with the truth-
.intended meanings or assumptions conditions of propositions expressed in
.sentences

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1 Introduction
According to the American language philosopher, J. R. Searle,-
speaking a language is performing speech acts, such as
making statements, giving commands, asking questions, or
.making promises or requests
More than one speech act can be performed through an -
.utterance depending upon the speech event
The theory of speech acts was pioneered by British language -
philosopher J. Austin in his series of lectures entitled How
.to do Things with Words
Austin introduced basic terms and areas to study. He-
distinguished between performative and constative
utterances, and between locutionary acts, illocutionary
.acts, and perlocutionary acts
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 Performatives 2
Lyons explains that Austin’s main purpose was to-
challenge the view that the only interesting function of
language, from a philosophical and linguistic
.perspective, was to make true and false statements
Austin proves that there are more functions language can-
.perform
He also came up with a new category of utterances that-
he referred to as performatives as opposed to
.constatives
Performatives are the first speech acts to be examined-
.within the theory of speech acts
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Austin defined performatives as utterances which contain-
special types of verbs (i.e., performative verbs) that
perform actions. In other words, in using a performative, a
person is not just saying something but is actually doing
.something
Furthermore, Austin explained that performatives, unlike-
constatives, cannot be true or false (they can only be
felicitous or infelicitous) and they do not describe, report,
.or constate anything
Grammatically, performatives are first person indicative-
.active sentences in the simple present tense
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The hereby test of performatives 2.1
In order to distinguish performative uses from other possible-
first person simple present uses, Austin came up with the
.hereby test of performatives
In this test, only performative verbs can collocate with the-
:adverb hereby, for example
I hereby resign from the post of the President of the Czech .1
.Republic
.I hereby get up at seven o’clock in the morning everyday .2
The first example is acceptable, while the second one is not.-
Therefore, the first one is a performative, and the second
.one is not
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 Types of performatives 2.2
:Austin distinguished between two types of performatives-
a. Explicit performatives: A performative in which the utterance
inscription contains an expression that makes explicit what kind of act
.is being performed
b. Implicit performatives: Also called primary performatives, is non-
explicit in terms of the previous definition. In an implicit performative,
there is no expression in the utterance inscription itself which makes
.explicit the fact that the utterance is to be taken as a performative
Explicit and implicit performative versions of utterances are not-
equivalent because using an explicit performative version of a
.command has a more serious impact than using the implicit version
People usually avoid using explicit performatives because they imply-
.unequal power relations between speaker and hearer

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a. Explicit performatives
Explicit performatives include a performative verb and can-
be seen to be a mechanism which allows the speaker to
remove any possibility of misunderstanding the force
:behind the utterance. For example
.I order you to leave
In the example, the speaker utters a sentence with an-
imperative proposition and with the purpose of making
.the hearer leave
The speaker uses a performative verb and thus completely-
avoids any possible misunderstanding. The message is
.clear
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b. Implicit performatives
An implicit performative does not include a-
performative verb. It may be ambiguous
:without an appropriate context. For example
?Will you leave
In the example, the meaning can be understood-
literally as a yes/no question, or non-literally
as an indirect request or even command to
.leave

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Locutionary, illocutionary, and 3
perlocutionary acts
Austin later realized that the distinction between -
.performatives and constatives is not sufficient
.Thus, he replaced it by a general theory of speech acts -
He distinguished three basic senses in which in saying -
something an individual is doing something, and
accordingly, three kinds of acts are simultaneously
:performed
Locutionary acts .1
Illocutionary acts .2
Perlocutionary acts .3
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Locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts-
are the three basic components that help form a
:speech act. Leech defined them as follows
Locutionary act: Performing an act of saying .1
.something
Illocutionary act: Performing an act in saying .2
.something
Perlocutionary act: Performing an act by .3
.saying something
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The locutionary act is the uttering of some-
words in a certain language, while the
illocutionary and perlocutionary acts convey a
.more complicated message for the hearer
An illocutionary act communicates the-
.speaker’s intentions behind the locution
A perlocutionary act reveals the effect the-
.speaker wants to have on the hearer

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:For example
?Would you close the door, please

Locutionary act: the utterance which is a question with clear content -

.(close the door)

.Illocutionary act: the request that is conveyed by the speaker -

Perlocutionary act: the speaker’s desire that the hearer should go and -
.close the door

It is not always easy to separate the individual elements because they *

.are closely related. However, our focus is illocutionary speech acts
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Illocutionary acts 4
Illocutionary acts are considered the core of the theory of-
.speech acts
An illocutionary act is the action performed by the-
.speaker in producing a given utterance
The illocutionary act is closely connected with the-
speaker’s intentions, e.g., stating, questioning,
promising, requesting, giving commands, threatening,
.etc
Illocutionary acts are performed via the communicative-
force of an utterance which is also generally known as
.the illocutionary force of an utterance
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Classifying speech acts 5
:Performative verbs are classified into the following categories -
Assertives commit the speaker to the truth of the expressed .1
proposition, e.g., state, suggest, claim, report, warn (that),
.etc. They are concerned with speaker’s beliefs
Directives have the intention of eliciting some sort of action .2
from the hearer, e.g., warn (to), order, command, request,
beg, beseech, advise (to), want (to), recommend, ask (to),
.etc
Commissives commit the speaker to do some future action, .3
.e.g., promise, vow, offer, undertake, contract, threaten, etc

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Expressives make known the speaker’s psychological .4
attitude to a presupposed state of affairs, e.g., thank,
congratulate, condole, praise, blame, forgive, pardon,
.etc. They are concerned with speaker’s feelings
Declaratives are said to bring about a change in .5
reality, in other words, the world is in some way no
longer the same after they have been said, e.g.,
resign, dismiss, divorce (in Islam), christen, name,
open (e.g., an exhibition), excommunicate, sentence
(in court), consecrate, bid (at an auction), etc

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Conditions for the successful 6
performance of speech acts
Normally, there are contextual conditions that must-
be fulfilled before a speech act can be said to have
.been properly performed
These conditions are referred to as felicity-
.conditions
Some of these conditions exist in any type of-
linguistic communication, for example, the fact that
the speaker and hearer understand one another
(i.e., speak the same language), can hear one
.another, etc
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Preparatory conditions 6.1
Preparatory conditions (i.e., background circumstances) are-
necessary because if they do not hold (i.e., are not
fulfilled), the act has not been carried out. In this case, it is
.said to have misfired
In declarative speech acts, the person performing the act-
must have authority to do so, and must do it in
.appropriate circumstances and with appropriate actions
For example, in the case of resigning from a job or position, -
just saying the words I resign at breakfast, does not
constitute a resignation. There are proper ways of
.resigning and channels for communicating such a decision
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Sincerity conditions 6.2
For sincerity conditions to be fulfilled, the person-
performing the act must have appropriate beliefs or
feelings. They are concerned with the psychological
.state of the speaker
For example, when performing an act of asserting,-
the speaker must believe the proposition they are
expressing; when thanking someone, the speaker
should have feelings of gratitude; when making a
promise, the speaker should sincerely intend to
.carry it out, and so on
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Essential conditions 6.3
Essential conditions basically define the act being carried out (i.e., they-
describe the illocutionary point of what is said). If essential conditions are
.not met, the act is not carried out

:For example
For a promise, the speaker must intend his utterance to put him under an-
obligation to carry out the act which corresponds to its propositional
.content
For a request, the speaker must intend that the utterance counts as an-
.attempt to get the hearer to do what is requested
For a statement, the hearer must intend that the utterance counts as a-
.guarantee of the truth of the statement
For a question, the hearer must intend that the utterance counts as an-
.attempt to elicit the appropriate answer from the hearer
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Direct and indirect speech acts 7
In addition to distinguishing speech acts according to their -
general function, they can also be distinguished with regard to
.their structure
Austin believes that what is said (i.e., the locutionary act) does -
.not determine the illocutionary act(s) being performed
Therefore, we can perform speech acts directly and indirectly, for -
example, we can make a request or give permission by making a
statement (e.g., I am getting thirsty or It doesn’t matter to me),
and we can make a statement or give an order by asking a
.question (e.g., Will you close the door?)
When an illocutionary act is performed indirectly, it is performed -
.through the use of another which is direct
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 How to make a direct speech act 7.1
A direct speech act is formed by using the typical association between-
.sentence form and speech act
:The syntactic structure of speech acts is shown in the following table-

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A direct speech act is when there is a direct-
relationship between the function of the
.speech act and its structural form

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How to make an indirect speech act 7.2
An indirect speech act is when there is no direct relationship-
.between the structure of the sentence and its function

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Force VS. Proposition .8
The focus of semantics is on propositions,
.whereas pragmatics gives value to force
Force Proposition
.Doing things with words Sentences that describe states of affairs
in the world
The felicity or infelicity of utterances The truth or falsity of sentences
Performative effect as a source of Truth as a way of determining meaning
meaning
The illocution & the perlocution The locution (i.e., uttering a sentence with
sense and reference)

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