'Language describes the world around us'. That's the common view. A sentence (for example, 'it's cold in here, isn't it?') describes a situation. But is there more going on than that? When we speak, are we only ever describing the world around us? Or are we also somehow 'acting within it'.
Speech Act theory says that when we speak we are also 'acting in the world'. What we say has a descriptive meaning, but it may also have an effect on those around us, causing them to act, or think, or respond in particular ways to what we say.
Our words have the power to cause things to happen. If someone says 'It's cold in here, isn't it?', are they simply describing a state of affairs, or trying to act to change it, by getting someone to close the window?
John Searle speech acts
Let's take a look at each category and some examples.
Declarations - The speaker declares something that has the potential to bring about a change in the world.
'I now declare you husband and wife.'
'You're fired!'
Assertives - The speaker asserts an idea, opinion, or suggestion. The speaker presents 'facts' of the world, such as statements and claims.
'Paris is the capital of France.'
'I watched a great documentary last night.'
Expressives - The speaker states something about their psychological attitudes and their attitudes towards a situation. This could be an apology, a welcome, or an expression of gratitude.
I'm so sorry about yesterday. '
'I really appreciate your help.'
Directives - The speaker intends to get the listener to do something. This could be by giving an order, offering advice, or making a request.
'Pass me the salt please.'
'You should not drink that!'
Commissives - The speaker commits to doing something in the future. This could be making a promise, a plan, a vow, or a bet.
'I'll see you at 6 tomorrow'
'I do!'
Commissive speech acts are used in contractual agreements such as wedding vows and promises.
What is speech act theory?
Speech act theory is a subfield of pragmatics. The theory is concerned with the way words can be used to not only give information but also to perform certain actions, or to cause others to perform them.
Speech act theory in literature
The philosopher JL Austin first introduced Speech Act theory in his book How To Do Things With Words.1 The theory was developed by American philosopher J. R Searle.²
Both philosophers aimed to understand the degree to which language is said to perform locutionary acts (make an utterance), illocutionary acts (say something with a purpose), and / or perlocutionary acts (say something that causes others to act). Are you feeling overwhelmed by these big terms? Don't worry, we will cover them in more depth shortly!
Speech act theory recognizes language as a vehicle for activity and states that utterances often do more than just reflect meaning. Language can be used to get things done and to accomplish objectives within specific situations.
Today, speech act theory is used in linguistics, philosophy, psychology, legal theory, and even in AI as a way of helping us to understand human communication.
Locutionary, Illocutionary, and Perlocutionary Speech Acts
Let's take at each one of these in more detail.
Locutionary acts
A locutionary act is the basic production of an utterance, comprising all of its verbal, social, and rhetorical meanings.
Locutionary acts can be broken into two main types: utterance acts and propositional acts.
Utterance acts can be any form of sound and do not necessarily have to be intelligible. In contrast, propositional acts must express a definable point. For example, a grunt would be an utterance act and a statement would be a propositional act. Propositional acts typically refer to the literal meaning of the speech act.
Charly sees a spider and says, 'Eurgh, I hate spiders'.
Here is an example of a propositional act. The literal meaning is that Charly does not like spiders.
Illocutionary acts
An illocutionary act is the active result of the implied meaning from the locutionary act. For example, the listener makes sense of what is being said to them and can then apply any implied meaning to the utterance.
Charly sees a spider and says, 'Eurgh, I hate spiders'.
As an illocutionary act, the listener can infer that Charly hates spiders and probably does not want this one near her.
Perlocutionary acts
A perlocutionary act is the effect the locutionary and illocutionary acts have on the listener. A perlocutionary act can influence others to change their behavior or their thoughts and feelings. Perlocutionary acts are sometimes referred to as a perlocutionary effect or perlocutionary force. Think of the effect of a speech act 'forcing' you to change your behavior in some way.
Charly sees a spider and says, 'Eurgh, I hate spiders'.
Based on the previous implied understanding that Charly probably doesn't want the spider near her, the listener may get up and remove the spider.
Take a look at the following sentence, what effect do you think this speech act could have on the listener?
"Spending too much time on your phone is bad for your eyes, you know."
Think of each speech act as a sort of umbrella term for the speech act below it. For example, all perlocutionary acts are illocutionary acts, and all illocutionary acts are locutionary acts.
Illocutionary competence
Illocutionary competence refers to an individual's ability to imply and infer different meanings through speech acts. Having illocutionary competence helps us to make sense of what we are actually being told and (usually) prevents us from getting the 'wrong end of stick'.
If you are able to comprehend an utterance, figure out its implied meaning, and then act accordingly, you probably have pretty good illocutionary competence!
Illocutionary competence refers to someone's ability to imply and infer different types of meanings.
Let's apply the concept of illocutionary competence to speaker B's utterance in the following conversation:
Speaker A: "Would you like to play tennis? "
Speaker B: "My racket's broken "
The propositional speech act (literal meaning) = Speaker B's racket is broken.
The illocutionary speech act (implied meaning) = Speaker B may want to play tennis but cannot because their racket is broken.
The perlocutionary speech act (effect on the listener) = Speaker A may infer that speaker B wants to play but cannot and offers them one of their rackets.
Direct and indirect speech acts
In the case of pragmatics, direct speech refers to a speech act that has a direct relationship between the type of sentence and its function. In contrast, indirect speech acts occur when there is an indirect relationship between the type of sentence and the function.
Let's take a look at some examples of direct and indirect speech acts.
This is an interrogative sentence that aims to elicit an answer. There is a direct relationship between the sentence type and the function; it is direct speech.
'I wonder whether you got any milk.'
Here the speaker wants to know whether or not milk was bought. However, they have used a declarative sentence and not an interrogative sentence. There isn't a direct relationship between the sentence type and the function, so this is an example of indirect speech.
Types of Speech Act - key takeaways
A speech act is an action that is performed in saying something.
Speech act theory is a subfield of pragmatics concerned with the way utterances can be used not only to give information but also to accomplish certain objectives.
Speech act theory was first introduced by JL Austin and further developed by the philosopher JR Searle.
There are three main actions related to speech acts: locutionary act, illocutionary act, and perlocutionary act (sometimes referred to as locutionary force, illocutionary force, and perlocutionary force).
Illocutionary competence refers to a person's ability to imply and infer meaning from speech acts.
¹ J. L Austin, How to do things with words, 1962
² J. R Searle, Speech Acts, 1969.
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