Types of

speech acts

locution illocution perlocution

Locution: a locution is a word,
phrase, or expression that is
spoken/written as well as its literal
meaning or significance. In bible
study, a locution is a text and its
meaning.
•locution
Illocution: the speaker’s intent in
saying those words and sentences
(i.e., the locution). That is, what
the speaker intends to see
•illocution
accomplished as a result of the
words he speaks/writes.
•Perlocution: this describes the
effects, results, outcome, change
that the speaker expects, hopes,

•perlocution
anticipates, or envisions the
audience would produce because of
his words. The perlocution “is the
consequent effect on the hearer
which the speaker intends should
follow from his utterance.”
• For example, an author writes a group of sentences with a
particular meaning (locution), and with a particular intent
(illocution), in order to achieve a certain effect on the
hearer (perlocution). The group of sentences (locution) may
be intended to urge a person to do something (illocution).
When the person becomes persuaded to do that thing
because of the sentences written, that is a perlocution.
Perlocution happens outside of the act of speaking or
writing. It’s the influence brought about by spoken or
written words.
• Here is another example that illustrates all three parts.
A woman may say to her husband, “the kitchen
smells.” That’s the locution. She really intends that
the husband should address the situation—so that the
kitchen wouldn’t smell anymore. That’s the
illocution. She hopes the result of her statement
would be that the husband would take out the rubbish,
causing the kitchen to smell. That’s the perlocution.
• Here is, yet another good example: “When the
bride and groom say ‘I do’ they are using very
basic locution words that could be used in any
number of contexts with varieties of meanings. But
in this context, they are used for a specific
illocution: a lifetime vow of faithfulness and
commitment. The resulting perlocution is the
implementation of that vow throughout life”
References

•  

1. Ruth M. Kempson, “Perlocutionary Acts in Speech-Act Theory,” ThoughtCo, accessed

September 9, 2020, https://www.thoughtco.com/perlocutionary-act-speech-1691611.

2. “Speech Acts,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, accessed September 9, 2020,

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/speech-acts/.

3. Ruth M. Kempson, “Perlocutionary Acts in Speech-Act Theory,” ThoughtCo, accessed

September 9, 2020, https://www.thoughtco.com/perlocutionary-act-speech-1691611.

4. Ibid.

5. John H. Walton and Brent Sandy, The Lost World of Scripture: Ancient Literary Culture and
Biblical Authority (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2013), 41.
•Thank you