Kõneaktide

Kõneaktide is a theoretical framework within linguistics and philosophy of language that analyzes spoken language as a form of action. The central idea is that when we speak, we don't just utter words; we perform actions with those words. This concept was most famously developed by philosopher J.L. Austin in his 1962 book "How to Do Things with Words." Austin distinguished between constative utterances, which describe a state of affairs and can be true or false, and performative utterances, which do not just describe but actually perform an action. Examples of performative utterances include "I promise," "I apologize," or "I christen this ship."

Later, Austin's student John Searle expanded on this theory, proposing a taxonomy of speech acts. Searle identified five main categories: representatives (stating facts), directives (getting someone to do something), commissives (committing oneself to a future action), expressives (expressing psychological states), and declarations (bringing about a change in reality through utterance). For instance, saying "The door is open" is a representative, while "Close the door" is a directive. "I will be there tomorrow" is a commissive, "Thank you" is an expressive, and "You are fired" is a declaration.

The study of speech acts focuses on understanding the conditions under which an utterance can successfully perform a particular action, known as felicity conditions. It also examines how speakers convey intended meanings beyond the literal words spoken, often through indirect speech acts, where the intended action differs from the literal meaning of the utterance. This theory has been influential in pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and artificial intelligence, providing tools to understand communication as a dynamic and action-oriented process.