Speech Acts:

What is a Speech Act?

An action performed in saying something.
We perform speech acts when we offer an
apology, greeting, request, complaint,
invitation, compliment, or refusal. A speech
act is an utterance that serves a function in
communication. A speech act might contain just
one word, as in "Sorry!" to perform an apology,
or several words or sentences: "Im sorry I
forgot your birthday. I just let it slip my mind."
Speech acts include real-life interactions and require
not only knowledge of the language but also appropriate
use of that language within a given culture.
Here are some examples of speech acts we use or hear
every day:
Greeting: "Hi, Eric. How are things going?"
Request: "Could you pass me the mashed potatoes,
please?"
Complaint: "Ive already been waiting three weeks for
the computer, and I was told it would be delivered within
a week."
Invitation: "Were having some people over Saturday
evening and wanted to know if youd like to join us."
Compliment: "Hey, I really like your tie!"
Refusal: "Oh, Id love to see that movie with you but this
Friday just isnt going to work."
Speech act theory broadly explains these
utterances :
1. Locutionary act : saying something (the

locution) with a certain meaning in traditional

sense. Two types of locutionary act:
utterance acts : where something is said
(or a sound is made) and which may not have
any meaning,
example : Oh! - is an utterance
(communication is not intended - it is just a
sound caused by surprise).
propositional acts : where a particular
reference is made
2.lllocutionaryacts: are the real actions
which are performed by the utterance, where
saying equals doing, as in betting, believe ,
dare, warning. etc.
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.

Example:I promise to pay you back- is an

illocutionary act (it intends to communicate)..
3.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!
such as persuading, convincing,
scaring, enlightening, inspiring, or
otherwise getting someone to do or
realize something
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)
when examining perlocutionary acts,
the effect on the hearer or reader is
emphasized
Example: Please find the black cat - is
a directive perlocutionary act (it seeks
to change behaviour).
As an example, consider the following utterance:
"By the way, I have a CD of Debussy; would you like
to borrow it?" Its illocutionary function is an offer,
while its intended perlocutionary effect might be to
impress the listener, or to show a friendly attitude,
or to encourage an interest in a particular type of
music.
Direct speech acts
When the semantic meaning of a sentence is
the same as what the speaker intended to
convey , it is described as a direct speech act.
For example, when a speaker doesn't know
something and asks the hearer to provide the
information, he or she will typically produce a
direct speech act of the following type:
Can you ride a bicycle ?
Did he come to class yesterday?
Structures
Functions
Did you eat the pizza?................... Interrogative
Question
Eat the pizza (please)! ..Imperative Command
(Request)

You ate the pizza. . Declarative

Statement
Indirect Speech act
Whenever one of the forms in the set above is used to
perform a function other than the one listed beside it, the
.result is an indirect speech act

: Now compare this utterance with:

? Can you pass the salt
In this second example, you would not usually understand
the utterance as a question about your ability to do
something. In fact, you would not treat this as a question at
all. You would treat it as a request and perform the action
requested.
We are not really asking a question about someones ability.
In fact, we dont
normally use this structure as a question at all. We normally
use it to make a request. That is, we are using a syntactic
structure associated with the function of a question, but in
this case with the function of a request. This is an example
It is possible to have strange effects if one
person fails to recognize another
persons indirect speech act. Consider the
following scene. A visitor to a city,
carrying his luggage, looking lost, stops a
passer-by.
: Excuse me. Do you know where the
Ambassador Hotel is?
: Oh sure, I know where it is. (and walks
away)
The main reason we use indirect speech
acts seems to be that actions such as
requests presented in an indirect way
(Could you open that door for me?) are
generally considered to be more gentle
or more polite in our society than direct
speech acts (Open that door for me!).
Exactly why they are considered to be
more polite is based on some complex
social assumptions.