Cooke 1 Arlene Cooke Emily Litle English Composition I, 121-001 12™ March 2018 A response to Speech Acts, Genre, and Activity Systems, How texts Organize Activity and People. Charles Bazerman’s Speech Acts, Genres, and Activity Systems: How Texts Organization Activity and people is truly amazing. This article is unlike anything I have ever read or even thought of, It talks about how everything we do and every place we go are organized by texts. Although Charles Bazermans speech is harder than necessary, his message is one that really made me think, I understand the Speech Acts, Genre, and Activity Systems are the actions and reactions of speech. The locutionary act, ilocutionary force, and the perlocutionary effect are the ways that Bazermans speech acts are shown, The philosopher John Austin in his book “how to do things with words”, argued that words not only mean things but centered around communication they do things.(371) I believe this to be true. Human activity and that is exactly what words written or spoken do. When we think of what is literally being said it is the locutionary act. When we think of what is being taken from those words we are thinking of the illocutionary force. When an action is taken from the way that a person perceives those words the perlocutionary effect is taking place. These three acts depend on one another to execute properly, However, there are many factors that determine how these acts will play out, The locutionary act can be easily misconstrued. Bazerman uses the example of a person saying “it is a bit chilly in this room”,371)Cooke 2 The other person may think that itis a request to turn the thermostat up or they may think the comment was made in regards to the cold comment that was made shares Charles Bazerman This is an example of illocutionary force that the locutionary created. However, the illocutionary may or may not be understood the way it was meant, The locutionary force had the potential to take the illocutionary in several different directions. The illocutionary force will determine the direction that the perlocutionary effect goes. It depends on how each person responds to the comment made. For example, Bazerman says that someone may think the speaker were trying to change the topic of conversation when all they were trying to do was get the thermostat turned up. A lot of this depends on how a person executes their message and what the circumstances are.Bazerman says “Of course for our words to carry out their acts these words must be said by the right people, in the right situation, with the right set of understandings. The third act the perlocutionary effect is the final act of communication. It is the way that the hearer is affected by the illocutionary. It is what will actually happen because of the way something is taken, Bazerman Say’ that “The listeners, may take my comments to mean something else entirely, such as a complain about the stringiness of the host or an attempt to change the subject of an unpleasant conversation. “This three-leveled analysis of speech acts, - ‘what was literally stated, the intended act, the actual effect is applicable in written texts. Bazerman 371 These three levels of speech acts go together with one another. With out one the other could not exist. In my opinion these acts are quite remarkable. I agree with Charles Bazerman that these acts are what define what we do day in and day out, We use these to determine where we go what we do and how we react to someone else. There can be complications in this as well. Sometimes the hearer may not want to cooperate with what we are trying to say either. When we write it is harder for us to fix any misunderstanding that there mayCooke 3 be. When talking we can more easily explain what we mean but as I said earlier it doesn’t mean that the hearer will go along with what we are saying. This is why It is important to explain the best that we can when writing. 1 agree with what Bazerman that speech acts coordinate our daily activities. Speech and communication is the base of everything. From when we wake up in the morning and tur on the morning news to checking face book or reading a newspaper. With out communication we would literally have no organization or planning, We would live like cave people still. Charles Bazerman has a good point when he talks about the three speech acts. The locutionary, the illocutionary, and the perlocutionary. I had never thought about the way speech works or how many different ways a simple sentence can be taken, I find it fascinating. It helped me to understand why some people just don’t get it. They communicate differently and if I want to get iy point across I have to learn to communicate in their language. I likes the way that Bazerman took a sentence and showed us how it can mean so many different things to all different people That is why I try and be direct and to the point I don’t like to leave an opening for a misunderstanding. It is important to learn this for effective communication in our lives. It not only helps us speak but will also help us write. It teaches the importance of Bazermans message. ‘There are many places where Bazermans message can be used if applied in the right way. He takes the three steps that are important for function in life. Bazermans message is how the world is organized and shows why it matters.