FOOD-FOR-THOUGHT

“When a million
things can bring
you down, find
one reason to
keep you UP”
 TYPES OF
SPEECH ACT
BY GROUP 2
John Langshaw Austin (1911-1960)
British philosopher
of language.
Proposed the
Speech Act Theory
in 1962.
John Roger Searle (1969)

 American philosopher
From the fundamental belief
that language is used to
perform actions, they shifted to
a fundamental insight focused
on how meaning and action are
related to language.
WHAT IS SPEECH ACT?
Jaworowska
-It is a minimal function unit
in human communication.
-It is the basic of
communication.
AUSTIN’S
THEORY OF
SPEECH ACT
1. Propositional meaning

-Is the literal meaning

of what is said.
2. Illocutionary meaning

-Is the social function of

what is said.
 COULD BE:
An indirect request for
someone to turn on the heater.
An indirect refusal for
someone who feels hot.
A complaint implying
that someone should be
kind enough to know that
it is better to have had the
heater on after all.
3. Perlocutionary meaning

-Is the effect of what is

said.
EXAMPLE:

•It is cold in here.

Changingminds.org
Perlocutionary act

- speech act that affects the

feelings, thoughts or action of
either the speaker or the listener.
Locutionary act

- is saying something
(locution) with specific
meaning in a traditional
sense.
Illocutionary act

-is the performance

of an act in
something.
EXAMPLE:
FIVE CATEGORIES
OF SPEECH ACT
Representatives
The speaker is committed to
the truth of the proposition.
Ex. assertions, claims, report
Verb: affirm, deny, believe,
conclude, report.
Directives
The speaker attempts to get the
hearer to do something.
Ex. suggestions, request,
command
Verb: dare, challenge, ask, insist
Expressive
The speaker expresses attitude
about a state of affairs.
Ex. apologies, complaints, thanks
Verb: apologize, deplore, thank,
congratulate, regret, and welcome
Commissive
The speaker is committed to a
(future) course of action.
Ex. Promises, threats, and offers
Verb: swear, vow, guarantee,
pledge, and promise
Declaratives
The speaker alters the
outward status or condition
of an object or situation,
solely by making utterance.
Ex. decrees and declaration

Verb: Baptized, sentence,

and resign.
Searle (1969) describes the
speech act by identifying
Five illocutionary or
perlocutionary points:
Assertives
Are statements that may
be judge true or false
because they aim to
describe a state of affairs
in the world.
Directives
Are the statements in an
attempt to make the other
person’s action fit the
propositional content.
Commissives
Are statement which
commit the speaker to a
course of action as describe
by the propositional
content.
Expressive
Are the statement that
express the “sincerity
condition of the act.”
Declaratives
Are the statements that
attempt to change the world
by “representing it as
having been changed.”
Kent Bach and Michael Harnish
developed a detailed taxonomy
of each type of illocutionary act
which includes the Four major
categories of communicative
illocutionary act:
Constatives
• Affirming • Claiming
• Alleging • Classifying
• Announcing • Concurring
•Answering •Confirming
•Attributing •Conjecturing
• Denying • Predicting
• Disagreeing • Reporting
• Disclosing • Stating
• Identifying • Stipulating
• Informing
• Insisting
Directives
• Advising • Dismissing
• Admonishing • Excusing
• Asking • Forbidding
• Begging
•Instructing •Requiring
•Permitting •Suggesting
•Ordering •Urging
•Requesting •Warning
Commissives
• Agreeing • Promising
• Guaranteeing • Swearing
• Inviting • Volunteering
• Offering
 Acknowledgements
• Apologizing •Thanking
• Condoling • Accepting
• Congratulating • Acknowledgin
• Greeting g
 REFERENCES
 www.Communicationtheory.org
 www.glossary.sil.org
 www.coerll.utexas.edu
 Wikipedia
THANK
YOU