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Learning The Types of Speech Act

The document discusses different types of speech acts: locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary. A locutionary act is the utterance itself. An illocutionary act communicates intention through statements, requests, orders, and more. A perlocutionary act seeks to change feelings, thoughts, or actions through inspiring, persuading, or deterring. The document also discusses John Searle's classification of illocutionary acts into five categories and explains performatives as statements that enact what they say when certain conditions are met.

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599 views3 pages

Learning The Types of Speech Act

The document discusses different types of speech acts: locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary. A locutionary act is the utterance itself. An illocutionary act communicates intention through statements, requests, orders, and more. A perlocutionary act seeks to change feelings, thoughts, or actions through inspiring, persuading, or deterring. The document also discusses John Searle's classification of illocutionary acts into five categories and explains performatives as statements that enact what they say when certain conditions are met.

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Jay Baccay
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LECTURE IN ORAL COMMUNICATION IN CONTEXT

LEARNING THE TYPES OF SPEECH ACT

Speech Act – in linguistic and the philosophy of language is an utterance that has performative function
in language and communication.

According to Kent Bach, "almost any speech act is really the performance of several acts at once,
distinguished by different aspects of the speaker's intention: there is the act of saying something, what
one does in saying it, such as requesting or promising, and how one is trying to affect one's audience".

The contemporary use of the term goes back to J. L. Austin's development of performative utterances
and his theory of locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts.

a. Locutionary Speech Act – this act happens with the utterance of a sound, a word, or even phrase
as a natural unit of speech. What is required for the utterance to be Locutionary act is that it
has a sense, and most importantly, for the Communication to take place, has the same meaning
to both the Speaker and the Listener. In fact, the utterance gives rise to shared meaning when it
is adjusted by the Speaker for the Listener.
Example: What? (when someone is surprised)
It’s a bird! (when referring to Superman)

b. Illocutionary Speech Act – It is not just saying something itself but the act of saying something
with the intention of:

Stating an opinion, confirming, or denying something;


Making a prediction, a promise, a request
Issuing an order or a decision; or
Giving advice or permission.

This Speech act uses the Illocutionary force of a statement, a confirmation, a denial, a
prediction a promise, a request, etc.

Example: There’s too much homework in this subject, (opinion)


I’ll do my homework later, (promise)
Go do your homework! (order)

c. Perlocutionary Speech Act – this is seen when a particular effect is sought from either the
Speaker, the Listener, or both. The response may not necessarily be physical or verbal and is
elicited by:

Inspiring or insulting
Persuading/convincing; or
Deterring/scaring

The aim of Perlocutionary Speech Act is to change feelings, thoughts, or actions.

Example: I was born of a Filipino, I will live a Filipino, I will die a Filipino! (inspiring)
It is the bleak job situation that forces Filipinos to find jobs overseas (persuading)
Texting while driving kills – you, your loved ones, other people (deterring)

Performatives
Austin also introduced the concept of performative utterances: statements which enable the
speaker to perform something just by stating it. In this manner, verbs that execute the speech that they
intend to effect are called performatives. A performative utterance said by the right person under the
right circumstances result in a change in world. Note that certain conditions have to be met when
making a performative utterance.

For example, the phrase “ I now pronounce you husband and wife”, when uttered by an
authorized person such as priest/judge will have the actual effect of binding a couple in marriage.
However if the same is statement is uttered to the same couple in the same place by someone who is
not authorized to marry them then there is no effect whatsoever because a condition was not met.
As a response to Austin’s Speech Act Theory, John Searle (1976), a professor from the University of
California, Berkeley, classified Illocutionary acts into five distinct categories.

1. Assertive – in which the speaker belief about the truth of a proposition.


Example: No one makes better pancakes than I do.

2. Directives – in which the speaker tries to make the addressee perform an action.
Example: Please close the door.

3. Commissive – in which the speaker commits to doing something in the future.


Example: From now on, I will participate in our group activity.

4. Expresive – in which the speaker expresses his/her feelings or emotional reactions.


Example: I am sorry for not helping out in our group projects and letting you do all the work.

5. Declaration – which brings a change in the external situation. Simply put, declarations bring into
existence or cause the state of affairs which they refer to.
Example: You are fired!
By saying that someone is fired, an employer causes or brings about the person’s unemployment,
thus changing his external situation.

Always keep in mind that speech acts include concrete life interaction that require the appropriate use
of language within a given culture. Communicative competence (i.e. the ability to use linguistic
knowledge, to effectively communicate with others) is essentially for a speaker to be able to use and
understand speech acts. Idioms and other nuances in a certain language might lost or misunderstand by
someone who does not fully grasp the language yet.

References:
Oral communication in context by Ramona S. Flores
Oral communication in context by Sipacio and Balgos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_act
Explanation

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