VI. Speech Acts

• Speech Acts


  These are utterances to achieve an intended effect.
• Speech Acts


  These are sentences that always have an intention and should be performed by the person to whom the speaker is.
• The Different Types of Speech Acts are: Locutionary Act, Illocutionary Act, and Perlocutionary Act.
• Locutionary Act


  This refers to the actual act of uttering or the words said by the person.
• Illocutionary Act


  This refers to social function or intention of the utterance.
• Perlocutionary Act


  This refers to the performed action intended by the utterance.
• Locutionary - "Get out of here!"

  Illocutionary - The speaker demands the other person to get out.

  Perlocutionary - The other person left the room.


  Identify the locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts: He left the room after she screamed, "Get out of here!"
• The words are divided into two categories: performatives (words that have an effect) and constatives (words that describe a situation).
• Performatives


  These are utterances of statements that enable the speaker to perform something just by stating it.
• Performatives


  In this manner, action verbs are mostly used in these statements.
• A performative utterance said by the right person under the right circumstances results in a permanent change.
• Constatives


  These are statements that only describe a thing or two according to their physical attributes or characteristics. 
• A constative statement does not denote an action and usually does not include an action word.
• I admit I was foolish - Performatives

  I was foolish - Constatives
• John Searle (1976), a professor from the University of California, Berkeley, classified illocutionary acts into five distinct categories: Assertive, Directive, Commissive, Expressive, and Declaration.
• Assertive


  It is a type of ilocutionary act wherein the speaker expresses belief about the truth of a proposition.
• Suggesting, swearing, boasting, and concluding are examples of assertive speech act
• Directive


  It is a type of ilocutionary act wherein the speaker tries to make the listener perform an action.
• Some examples of directive speech act are asking, ordering, requesting, inviting, advising, and begging.
• Commissive


  It is a type of ilocutionary act wherein a speaker to doing something in the future.
• Examples of commissive speech act are promising, planning, vowing, and betting.
• Expressive


  It is a type of illocutionary act that makes the speaker express his/her feelings or emotional reactions.
• Thanking, apologizing, welcoming, and deploring are examples of expressive speech act.
• Declaration


  It is a type of ilocutionary act that brings a change in the external situation.
• Some examples of a declaration speech act are baptizing, blessing, firing, bidding, passing a sentence, and excommunicating.