Speech Act

All Linguistic communication involves linguistic acts. The unit of linguistic communication is
not, as has generally been supposed, the symbol, word or sentence, but rather the
production or issuance of the symbol, word or sentences in the performance of the speech
act.

The study of speech acts enables the understanding of the social, psychological, cultural,
historical and similar other dimensions of communication. They are not mere artificial
linguistic constructs as it may seem, their understanding together with the acquaintance of
context in which they are performed are often essential for decoding the whole utterance
and its proper meaning.

A speech act in linguistics and the philosophy of language is an utterance that has
performative function in language and communication. According to Kent Bach, “almost any
speech act is really the performance of several acts at once, distinguished by different
aspects of the speaker’s intention: there is the act of saying something, what one does in
saying it, such as requesting or promising, and how one is trying to affect one’s audience.” The
contemporary use of the term goes back to J. L. Austin’s development of performative
utterances and his theory of locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts. Speech acts
are commonly taken to include such acts as promising, ordering, greeting, warning, inviting
and congratulating.

The concept speech act was proposed by John Langshaw Austin, one of the founders of
pragmatics, in the series of William James lectures which were delivered by him at Harvard in
1955. Eventually, his work was published in the book entitled How to Do Things with Words
(1965). This concept was later developed by John Searle. Speech act theory believes in
identifying utterances and turns as actual actions. This theory not only considers language
used by the speaker but studies change in the state of behavior of the speaker as well as the
listener at the time of communication.J. L. Austin for the first time studied language from a
different point of view and brought into notice that apart from statements true and false, and
truth conditions there are other possibilities in language, which are non-assertive categories
that include questions, commands, exclamations etc. He studied language from non-
conventional point-of-view which is a kind of reaction to the traditional view of language.

Besides Austin, John Searle contributed a lot to the speech act theory. Although a speech act
is concerned with the ‘performative’ aspect of utterances, a speech act has many other
dimensions. According to speech act, language is used to make things happen. Human beings
have a wide choice of linguistic expressions and they try to make it as effective as possible.
The choice of language depends upon a number of factors, like social customs, traditions,
culture, relationship between speakers and the kind of situation.
Classifications

Speech Act theory classifies speech acts into three types:

Locutionary Act
Illocutionary Act
Perlocutionary Act

Locutionary Act

The locutionary act is the act of saying something with a certain meaning and reference.
Locutionary act in a larger sense refers to all communication media, both sent and received.
From the receiver’s point of view, communication media is not important at the beginning of
the communication. But, on the other hand, there are verbal and nonverbal communication
acts within the locutionary acts. These acts are received as entity and are hence subjected to
further interpretation.

For example,

Don’t go to the jungle!

Counts as a warning: The speaker is trying to persuade someone not to go to the jungle
which is considered dangerous in that particular context.

You should studyharder.

Counts as an encouragement: the speaker is trying to encourage the listener to burn

midnight oil to achieve more success.

He said to me “Sing along!”

Counts as motivation: the speaker is is trying to persuade the listener to get involved in
the act of singing.

Illocutionary Act

Illocutionary Act is referred to as the act performed in saying something. Illocutionary force
is the speaker’s intent. It is also considered as a true ‘speech act’.It relates to various kinds of
psychological modes that make the basis of communication as its teleological base. Both
acts, locutionary and illocutionary are invoked by the sender/speaker. 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.

For example,

He informed me about the corruption of the committee members.

Counts as an information: the speaker’s intent is to transfer the information to the
listener.
Leave the room.
Counts as an order:The speaker has ordered the listener/s to leave the room.
I hereby declare you the knight of Gwinder Falls.
Counts as a declaration: The speaker has declared the listener as the knight of Gwinder
Falls.

Illocutionary act can be further divided into the following types:

assertives = it represents state of affairs. E.g. stating, claiming, suggesting, telling,

insisting, asserting or describing

For example

I saw a beautiful flower which was plucked by a girl.

Sunita went to Kanpur to protest against tanneries.

directives = speech acts that are to cause the hearer to take a particular action, e.g. requests,
commands and advice

For example

Close the window!

Get out my room!
Go to the playground!

commissives = speech acts that commit a speaker to some future action, e.g. promises and
oaths

For example

I will return this pen to you tomorrow.

I will bring harmony to this city again.
I promise to be the harbinger of security in our house.

expressives = speech acts that express on the speaker’s attitudes and emotions towards the
proposition, e.g. congratulations, excuses and thanks

For example
 Your speech was commendable.
I am not well. Please excuse me from the meeting.
I thank the citizens of Lesotho for supporting me during the elections.

declarations = speech acts that change the reality in accord with the proposition of the
declaration, e.g. baptisms, pronouncing someone guilty or pronouncing someone husband
and wife.

For example:

I now pronounce you man and wife!

The owner of Tiru cabs is hereby sentenced to prison for five years.
Mr Gandon will persecuted according to the law for theft and arsony.

Perlocutionary Act

Perlocutionary acts are the acts which are attributed to the effect of the utterances of a
sentence. According to Austin, an utterance of a sentence of the speaker is the performance
of an illocutionary act of having a certain force, which is different from the locutionary act of
uttering the sentence, which is to have a meaning, and also from the perlocutionary act
performed by uttering the sentence, which is to achieve certain effects. Perlocutionary act is
a speech act that have an effect on the feelings, thoughts or actions of either the speaker or
the listener. This includes persuading, convincing, scaring, enlightening, inspiring, or
otherwise affecting the listener. It is to be noticed here that while examining perlocutionary
acts, the effect on the hearer or reader is put on focus.

For example:

I have an extra concert ticket for the Coldplay. Would you like to attend it?