Speech Act and Events

When we speak we perform actions There are words when uttered they can change your life forever
Ex: You are fired (This utterance can affect the life of the interlocutor)
Ex: I now declare you husband and wife (That will enact the fact of marriage)
Ex: You are divorced (As like in “chariaa”, by uttering these words the act of divorcing becomes effective)
We Perform actions through language.
Speech Act:
Actions performed via utterances like apology, complaint, promise … we use language to express this type of action.
Speech Event:
The context in which the speech act is uttered.
Accordingly, every speech act includes three types of act.
 Locutionary act.
The elocutionary act is the basic of utterance; or producing a meaningful expression (the utterance itself).
 Illocutionary act
Forming an utterance with some kind of function (what speaker intends the utterance to function?)
Ex: I’ll see you later. It may be a prediction, a promise or a warning
 Prelocutionary act
It’s the effect of the utterance or the interlocutor, it can be physical, social or psychological.
It may be intended or not by the speaker.
Ex: Watch out the floor is slippery.
o The utterance itself (what the speaker says) : Locutionary act
o Warning : Be careful : Illocutionary act
o The expectation is to pay attention for not falling: Prelocutionary act

In some cases the interlocutor may be frightened by the utterance. The act of frightening is not intended by the speaker:
Prelocutionary act.
How can speakers assume that the intended illocutionary force will be recognized by the hearer?
IFIDS:
The most obvious device for indicating the illocutionary force is IFIDS which is an expression to show what the speaker
is intending to say. Like performative verbs (I promise that, warn you that …)
Felicity conditions:
It is a rule required for the successful performance of the speech act, such as being the appropriate person to perform
the act.
Speech Act classification:
Declarations;
The speaker changes the world via words
Ex: I pronounce you husband and wife. Especially institutional change
Representatives;
State what the speaker believes to be the case or not (all statement of fact, assertions, conclusions and descriptions
represent the world as the speaker believes it is.)
Ex: The earth is flat
To state, to argue, to assert, all these are examples of assertions
In using a representative, the speaker makes the words fit the world (it’s still not flat)
Expressives:
State what the speaker feels. It expresses the psychological state of the speaker whether it is of pleasure, pain, and joy
… Ex: I’m really sorry (Expresses feelings or attitudes.)
Directives:
Speech act through which the speaker gets the hearer to perform something (orders, request like I’m doing here …) Ex:
Don’t touch that!
Commissives:
The speaker commits himself to do something in the future like promises, threats …
Ex: I’ll change. (Promise)
Direct and indirect speech acts:
Direct: When there is relationship between literal meaning and the intended meaning or through the use of
performance verbs. Ex: MOVE!
Indirect: The literal meaning does not correspond to what the speaker intends. Ex: You are in the way!