UNIT 4: INTERPERSONAL MEANING
INDEX
1. SPEECH ACTS.
2. LOCUTION, ILLOCUTION AND PERLOCUTION.
3. DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH ACTS.
4. FELICITY CONDITIONS.
1. SPEECH ACTS.
• Speech Act Theory: Speech Act Theory was proposed by J. L. Austin
and has been developed by J. R. Searle. They believe that language is
not only used to inform or to describe things, but also often used to
“do things”, to perform acts.
• For example: You are fired.
• Actions performed via utterances are generally called speech acts,
the uttering of the relevant words is the action itself; without the
utterance the action is not done. These are called performative
sentences and the verbs used are called performative verbs.
• For example: I name the ship Titanic.
2. LOCUTION, ILLOCUTION AND PERLOCUTION
• What is speech act theory? There are 3 different types or levels of
speech acts: locution, illocution and perlocution.
o Locution: It is what we say. The words that the speaker uses.
o Illocution: It is what we intend to accomplish by saying it. It is
what the speaker is doing by using those words.
o Perlocution: It is what we actually accomplish by saying it. The
effects of those words on the hearer.
• Speech Acts:
o I apologize | I declare this meeting open. → These sentences are
used to do things. They are performatives vs. all other
utterances, that are constatives.
o Utterances can be classified as performative or constative.
▪ Performatives simultaneously state and perform the
illocution.
▪ Constatives can also be used to perform an illocution but,
unlike performatives, they do not explicitly name the
intended illocutionary act.
o One way to differentiate between performatives and
constatives is to use the adverb “hereby”.
