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Locutionary act
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In linguistics and the philosophy of mind, a locutionary act is the performance of an utterance, and
hence of a speech act. The term equally refers to the surface meaning of an utterance because,
according to J. L. Austin's posthumous "How To Do Things With Words", a speech act should be
analysed as a locutionary act (i.e. the actual utterance and its ostensible meaning, comprising
phonetic, phatic and rhetic acts corresponding to the verbal, syntactic and semantic aspects of any
meaningful utterance), as well as an illocutionary act (the semantic 'illocutionary force' of the
utterance, thus its real, intended meaning), and in certain cases a further perlocutionary act (i.e. its
actual effect, whether intended or not).

Example Edit
For example, the phrase "Don't go into the water" (a locutionary act with distinct phonetic,
syntactic and semantic features) counts as warning to the listener not to go into the water (an
illocutionary act). If the listener heeds the warning the speech-act has been successful in
persuading the listener not to go into the water (a perlocutionary act). This taxonomy of speech
acts was inherited by John R. Searle, Austin's pupil at Oxford and subsequently an influential
exponent of speech act theory.

References
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Speech act
utterance that serves a performative function

Illocutionary act
Perlocutionary act
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Illocutionary act
The concept of illocutionary acts was introduced into linguistics by the philosopher J. L. Austin in
his investigation of the various aspects of speech acts.

In Austin's framework, locution is what was said, illocution is what was meant, and perlocution is
what happened as a result.

When somebody says "Is there any salt?" at the dinner table, the illocutionary act (the meaning) is
effectively "please give me some salt" even though the locutionary act (the literal sentence) was to
ask a question about the presence of salt.

The perlocutionary act (the actual effect), was to cause somebody to offer salt.

OverviewEdit
The notion of an illocutionary act is closely connected with Austin's doctrine of the so-called
'performative' and 'constative utterances': an utterance is "performative" if, and only if it is issued
in the course of the "doing of an action" (1975, 5), by which, again, Austin means the performance
of an illocutionary act (Austin 1975, 6 n2, 133). According to Austin's original exposition in How
to Do Things With Words, an illocutionary act is an act

(1) for the performance of which I must make it clear to some other person that the act is
performed (Austin speaks of the 'securing of uptake'), and
(2) the performance of which involves the production of what Austin calls 'conventional
consequences' as, e.g., rights, commitments, or obligations (Austin 1975, 116f., 121, 139).
Thus, for example, in order to make a promise I must make clear to my audience that the act I am
performing is the making of a promise, and in the performance of the act I will be undertaking an
obligation to do the promised thing: so promising is an illocutionary act in the present sense. Since
Austin's death, the term has been defined differently by various authors.

One way to think about the difference between an illocutionary act (e.g., a declaration, command,
or a promise), and a perlocutionary act (e.g., an insult or a persuasion attempt) is to note how in
the former case, by uttering the object — for example, "I hereby declare," or "I command," or "I
hereby promise you" — the act has taken place.

That is to say, in each case a declaration, command, or promise has necessarily taken place in
virtue of the utterance itself, whether the hearer believes in the declaration, command, or promise
or not.

On the other hand, with a perlocutionary act, the object of the utterance has not taken place unless
the hearer deems it so — for example, if one utters, "I hereby insult you," or "I hereby persuade
you" — one would not assume an insult has necessarily occurred, nor persuasion has necessarily
taken place, unless the hearer were suitably offended or persuaded by the utterance.

Approaches to defining "illocutionary act" Edit

Many define the term "illocutionary act" with reference to examples, saying for example that any
speech act (like stating, asking, commanding, promising, and so on) is an illocutionary act. This
approach has generally failed to give any useful hints about what traits and elements make up an
illocutionary act; that is, what defines such an act. It is also often emphasised that Austin
introduced the illocutionary act by means of a contrast with other kinds of acts or aspects of
acting: the illocutionary act, he says, is an act performed in saying something, as contrasted with a
locutionary act, the act of saying something, and also contrasted with a perlocutionary act, an act
performed by saying something. Austin, however, eventually abandoned the "in saying" / "by
saying" test (1975, 123).

According to the conception adopted by Bach and Harnish in 'Linguistic Communication and
Speech Acts' (1979), an illocutionary act is an attempt to communicate, which they analyse as the
expression of an attitude. Another conception of the illocutionary act goes back to Schiffer's book
'Meaning' (1972, 103), in which the illocutionary act is represented as just the act of meaning
something.

According to a widespread opinion, an adequate and useful account of "illocutionary acts" has
been provided by John Searle (e.g., 1969, 1975, 1979). In recent years, however, it has been
doubted whether Searle's account is well-founded. A wide ranging critique is in FC Doerge 2006.
Collections of articles examining Searle's account are: Burkhardt 1990 and Lepore / van Gulick
1991.

Classes of illocutionary acts

Illocutionary force
Illocutionary force indicating devices (IFIDs)
Illocutionary negations
See also
References
Further reading
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Performative utterance
Perlocutionary act
Performative text
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Perlocutionary act
A perlocutionary act (or perlocutionary effect) is a speech act, as viewed at the level of its
consequences, such as persuading, convincing, scaring, enlightening, inspiring, or otherwise
affecting the listener.[clarification needed] This is contrasted with locutionary and illocutionary
acts (which are levels of description, rather than classifications of speech acts).[1]

Unlike the notion of illocutionary act, which describes the linguistic function of an utterance,
[clarification needed] a perlocutionary effect is in some sense external to the performance. It may
be thought of, in a sense, as the effect of the illocutionary act via the locutionary act. Therefore,
when examining perlocutionary acts, the effect on the hearer or reader is emphasized.

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.

References
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Illocutionary act
Locutionary act
Metalocutionary act
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These are the simple example of the speech act with its component:
a) I have a substantial amount of back pay money
Locution (the utterance) : I have a substantial amount of back
pay money
Illocution (the meaning) : an act of offering the hearer to ask
for money, borrows some money,
 or has a dinner treat, depending on
the context.
Perlocution (reaction) : the hearer asks for some money,
borrows some money, or asks for a
dinner treat.
b) You have eye inflammation
Locution (the utterance) : You have eye inflammation
Illocution (the meaning) : an act of ordering the hearer to
go to an ophthalmologist to have
eye examination or to treat the eye,
depending on the context.
Perlocution (reaction) : the hearer goes to an
ophthalmologist or treats the eye.
From the example above, the researcher wish it can give easier for the reader
in the understanding about speech act.