When speakers perform utterances, they

accomplish two things: (1)

interactional acts and (2) speech acts.
Interactional acts impose structure on the
discourse by ensuring that one utterance leads
smoothly to another.
Speech acts constitute attempts by language
users to perform specific actions, in particular
interpersonal functions.
 
Half a century ago, John Austin gave a series of
lectures at Harvard published as How to Do
Things with Words. He presented a new picture of
analyzing meaning; meaning is described in a
relation among linguistic conventions correlated
with words/sentences. The idea is that in uttering
a sentence

utilizing linguistic conventions+

associated intention = linguistic act
Speech-act theory as a subfield of pragmatics is concerned
with the ways in which  sentences can be used not only to present information but
also to carry out actions. Here are some examples of common speech acts :
Greeting:"Hi, Eric. How are things going?"
Request:"Could you pass me the potatoes, please?"
Complaint:"I’ve already been waiting three weeks for the computer, and I was
told it would be delivered within a week."
Invitation:"We’re having some people over Saturday evening and wanted to
know if you’d like to join us."
Compliment:   "Hey, I really like your tie!"
Refusal:   "Oh, I’d love to see that movie with you but this Friday I am really
busy."
 What Are the General
Functions of Speech Acts?
In general, speech acts are acts of
communication expressing a certain attitude,
and the type of speech act being performed
corresponds to the type of attitude being
expressed. For example, a statement
expresses a belief, a request expresses a
desire, and an apology expresses a regret.
Some speech acts, however, are not primarily
acts of communication and have the function of
affecting institutional state of affairs. They can do
so in either of two ways. Some officially judge
something to be the case, and others actually
make something the case.
Those of the first kind include judges' rulings,
referees' decisions etc, and the latter include
firing and appointing.
Examples of Locutionary Acts
1.I warn you to stop smoking – It constitutes an expressed
locutionary act because its propositional content predicates a
future act – to stop smoking of the hearer – you
2.The dog is on the floor – Declarative sentence form that denotes a
statement
3.Do you want some coffee? – Interrogative sentence form used to
ask questions
4.Close the door – Imperative sentence form used to give direction
5.It is cold here
Examples of Illocutionary Acts
1.I will see you later – we could find three different
assumptions of its meaning – prediction, promise and
a warning
2.I promise you to pay back – is an illocutionary act as
it is communicating
3.There is too much homework in this subject –
opinion
4.I will do my homework later – promise
5.Go do your homework – order
Examples of Perlocutionary Acts
1. Would you mind closing the window
2. Look out for a tiger in a jungle
3. I want you to remain with me
4. I don’t want to be seen with him anymore
5. I want to convince myself of getting
married
 Performative utterances
• they perform the action named
by the first verb in the
performative utterances; they perform the action named by the first verb in the sentence such as promising, inviting, apologizing
and warning.

sentence such as promising,

inviting, apologizing and
warning.
For example, the phrase”I now
pronounce you husband and wife,”
when uttered by an authorized
person such as judge will have the
actual effect of binding a couple in
marriage.
 SEARLE’S CLASSIFICATION OF SPEECH
ACT
John Searle (1976), a professor from the university of
California, Berkeley, classified illocutionary acts into fire
(5) distinct categories.
1.ASSERTIVE
2.DIRECTIVE
3.COMMISIVE
4.EXPRESSIVE
5.DECLARATION
 SEARLE’S CLASSIFICATION OF SPEECH
ACT
John Searle (1976), a professor from the university of
California, Berkeley, classified illocutionary acts into fire
(5) distinct categories.
1.ASSERTIVE
2.DIRECTIVE
3.COMMISIVE
4.EXPRESSIVE
5.DECLARATION
SEARLE’S CLASSIFICATION OF SPEECH
ACT
SEARLE’S CLASSIFICATION OF SPEECH
ACT
SEARLE’S CLASSIFICATION OF SPEECH
ACT
SEARLE’S CLASSIFICATION OF SPEECH
ACT
SEARLE’S CLASSIFICATION OF SPEECH
ACT
ACTIVITY
Complete the following table with information related to
Searle’s Classification of Speech Acts.
Classification of Specific Situation Example
Speech Act
Assertive Chris bought a new gadget, “I’m the only one in school
and he shows it off to his who has this new iPhone
friends. model.”
Directive
Commisive
Expressive
Declaration
LET’S REFLECT
Reflect on what you have learned after taking up this lesson
by completing the chart.
I thought……….(What were your thoughts
or ideas about speech acts prior to the
discussion of this lesson)
I learned that………..(What new or additional
ideas did you learn after taking up this lesson?)