PRAGMATICS AND SPEECH ACTS

Pragmatics is a branch of linguistics which studies language from the point of view of the
users, especially of the choices they make, the constraints they encounter in using language in
social interaction, and the effects their use of language has on other participants in an act of
communication.

Language is two-dimensional: it has an internal structure and it has an external function.

The analysis of language in terms of its sounds (phonology), grammatical structure (syntax)
and meaning (semantics) is the study of its structure.
But there is more to language than that. Language is used for communication, used by human
beings who belong to various societies (which are historically, geographically, politically or
religiously distinct). That is, there is the functional dimension of the language.
The notion of function refers to the many ways in which users of language (speakers and
addressees) utilise linguistic forms in the process of communication. How language is used.

Speech Acts Theory

John Austin (of Oxford, a philosopher) initiated a systematic study of Speech Acts.
In speech Acts theory we are talking about utterances rather than sentences.
Utterance a linguistic expression whose syntactic form can be that of a sentence and which
is used, i.e. uttered by the speaker in the presence of an addressee in order to communicate
something. E.g. Hello! Is an utterance but not a sentence
Types of utterances:
There are two types of utterances: constative utterances and performative utterances (which
in turn can be primary performatives or explicit performatives)

Constative utterances such as Warsaw is bigger than New York. There are 7 students in this
room have truth-values (= can be either true or false); can be verified; say something about a
state of affairs

Performative utterances such as Shut up and get out of here at once. are neither true or false.
They can be appropriate or not depending on certain conditions felicity conditions (which
tell us under which circumstances what the speaker says is appropriate; the circumstances
being time, place, the right person etc.). If a performative sentence meets felicity conditions
than the utterance is felicitous, if not it is infelicitous. They do not say much about the state
of affairs but rather they do something they are used in the performance of certain actions.

Explicit performatives contain a performative clause as the main clause of the utterance.
Performative clause is a clause of the type: I ask/order/promise you...

Primary performatives do not contain a performative clause as part of their structure. They
can be interpreted as if they had it it is implied in the meaning. Example: Shut up and get
out of here at once.

Types of Linguistic Acts

Linguistic acts
A. Locutionary Acts (Locutions)
B. Illocutionary Acts (Illocutions)
C. Perlocutionary Acts (Perlocutions)
Locutionary Acts (Locutions)
An act of making a meaningful utterance; an utterance which has some phonetic form,
consists of words and grammatical constructions, and has some sense and reference (=relates
to some object in reality). It is just speaking.

Illocutionary Acts (Illocutions)

Uttering locutionary acts in order to perform such actions as, e.g. giving an order, warning
somebody of a danger, etc.
It is saying something with an intention to create a certain effect in the addressee.
Please, give me some more tea.
Give me some more tea, will you?
Can I get some more tea?

Illocutionary acts have specific Illocutionary Force attached to them. The above
illocutionary acts all have the illocutionary force of a request.
An illocutionary act of request can be realised by different locutions.

Perlocutionary Acts (Perlocutions)

Involve consequential results accompanying the use of illocutionary acts.

An act which is performed when an utterance achieves a particular effect on the behaviour,
beliefs, feelings, etc. of a listener.
Perlocutionary Acts have the Perlocutionary Effect attached to them.
e.g. Eat this! Read that!

Illocutions what the speaker intends

Perlocutions what he actually achieved

To see how it functions lest us imagine a situation in which the utterance Kiss her! is directed
by the speaker S to an addressee A.
1) in saying that S has produced a locutionary act.
- he used the sounds of English, words of English , and syntax of English to produce
an English sentence, which has the meaning press your lips against the female

2) by saying that S has performed an illocutionary act, because he intended what he

said to be taken as an order by A.
He intended his utterance to have the illocutionary force of an order.

3) By saying that S has also affected As behaviour, and in this way he performed a
perlocutionary act.
If she was kissed, than the utterance had the perlocutionary effect of getting A to
perform the physical act of kissing.
Words are deeds.

- both the illocutionary force and the perlocutionary effect of an utterance are not
permanently present in the utterance;
- they are projected by the speaker in the speech act;
- they depend
- on speakers intentions, beliefs,
- on the addressees beliefs and his assessment of the situation
 - on the extra-linguistic context
- these factors seem to be more important in the assignment of the illocutionary force
and perlocutionary effect on the utterance than the purely linguistic factors (e.g.
syntactic, semantic or prosodic factors)
- the linguistic factors are used as indicators as to what kind of act the speaker intends to
perform.
- Example:
- How are you? Though it has a grammatical form of a question, it has a function of
a greeting, and does expect a detailed answer
- Is this chocolate? In American English it is a request and not a question for
information.

Speech Act Theory

Explanations > Theories > Speech Act Theory
Description | Research | Example | So what? | See also | References

DESCRIPTION
Getting a glass of water is an action. Asking someone else to get you one is also an act.
When we speak, our words do not have meaning in and of themselves. They are very much
affected by the situation, the speaker and the listener. Thus words alone do not have a
simple fixed meaning.
Locutionary act: saying something (the locution) with a certain meaning in traditional
sense. This may not constitute a speech act.
Illocutionary act: the performance of an act in saying something (vs. the general act
of saying something).
The illocutionary force is the speaker's intent. A true 'speech act'.
e.g. informing, ordering, warning, undertaking.
Perlocutionary acts: Speech acts that have an effect on the feelings, thoughts or
actions of either the speaker or the listener. In other words, they seek to change
minds!
Unlike locutionary acts, perlocutionary acts are external to the performance.
e.g., inspiring, persuading or deterring.
Two types of locutionary act are utterance acts, where something is said (or a sound is
made) and which may not have any meaning, and propositional acts, where a particular
reference is made. (note: acts are sometimes also called utterances - thus a perlocutionary
act is the same a perlocutionary utterance).
Searle (1969) identified five illocutionary/perlocutionary points:
 1. Assertives: statements may be judged true or false because they aim to describe a state of affairs in the
world.
2. Directives: statements attempt to make the other person's actions fit the propositional content.
3. Commissives: statements which commit the speaker to a course of action as described by the
propositional content.
4. Expressives: statements that express the sincerity condition of the speech act.
5. Declaratives: statements that attempt to change the world by representing it as having been changed.

Thus pretty much all we do when we are talking is assert, direct, commiserate, express and
declare. In fact we follow two types of rules:
Constitutive rules or Definition rules that create or define new forms of behavior.
Regulative or Behavior rules that govern types of behavior that already exist.

The meaning of an utterance is thus defined more by convention than the initiative of the
reader. When we speak, we are following learned rules.
Performativity occurs where the utterance of a word also enacts it ('I name this ship...'). It is
a form of illocutionary act. This has been taken up by such as Judith Butler in feminism and
has been used to indicate how pornography is less a form of speech as a performative act of
sexual degradation. It is related to suture and interpellation in the way it forces a situation.

RESEARCH
Ludwig Wittgenstein called ordinary language philosophy the idea that the meaning of
language depends on its actual use, rather than having an inherent meaning.
Speech-act theory was originated by Austin (1962) and developed further by Searle (1969).

EXAMPLE
Oh! - is an utterance (note that communication is not intended - it is just a sound caused by
surprise).
The black cat - is a propositional act (something is referenced, but no communication may
be intended)
The black cat is stupid - is an assertive illocutionary act (it intends to communicate).
Please find the black cat - is a directive perlocutionary act (it seeks to change behaviour).

SO WHAT?
By understanding the detail of what is being said, you can hence understand and communicate better with others.