This document discusses speech act theory, describing the three types of speech acts: locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts. It then provides more details on illocutionary acts, explaining how they are classified based on their illocutionary point (force, direction of fit, sincerity conditions). Five categories of illocutionary acts are described: assertives, directives, commissives, expressives, and declarations. The document concludes by discussing how to appropriately choose a speech act based on preparatory conditions and rules of politeness.
3. LOCUTIONARY ACT
(act of saying)
ILLOCUTIONARY ACT
(act we do in saying...)
[conventions]
phonetics (form)
syntax
semantics (content)
felicity conditions
(illocutionary “force”)
PERLOCUTIONARY ACT
(act we do by saying...)
[consequences]
context dependence
(2 examples Mario and “her”)
5. 1)
“explicit performatives” (Austin)
(illocutionary clause (Searle))
2) different criteria (Searle):
*Illocutionary point* (essential condition)
– illocutionary force
– direction of fit
– sincerity conditions (psychological state)
6. Ill. force
direction of fit
sincerity condition
Assertion
worldwords
believe in what you assert
Command
wordsworld
will of future action
Commitment wordsworld
intention to fulfill the action
Expression
possibility to express psic.states
Declaration words world
will of future action
7. 1. Assertive: represents a state of affairs. E.g. stating, claiming,
hypothesizing, describing, telling, insisting, suggesting, ...
2. Directive: getting the addressee to do something. E.g. ordering,
commanding, daring, defying, challenging
3. Commissive: getting the speaker to do something. E.g. promising,
threatening, intending, advising, warning, betting, vowing to do or
to refrain from doing something ...
4. Expressive: expressing the mental state of the speaker about an
event presumed to be true.. E.g. congratulating, thanking,
deploring, condoling, welcoming, apologizing
5. Declaration: bringing into existence the state of affairs to which it
refers. E.g. blessing, firing, baptizing, bidding, ...
12. is the speaker able to fulfill the sincerity conditions?
or better: can he realize the illocutionary point?
(felicity conditions in general include intentions,
sentiments, psychological states, but also
conventions, physical possibilities, practical
possibilities...)
what does the choice of a particular kind of
illocutionary act reveal of the speaker?