Sprechakte

Sprechakte, or speech acts, is a concept in linguistics and philosophy of language that analyzes how utterances do things in addition to conveying information. Introduced by J. L. Austin in How to Do Things with Words (1955), the theory distinguishes the act of saying something (the locutionary act) from the intended force of the utterance (the illocutionary act) and the actual effect on listeners (the perlocutionary act).

Austinian theory was later refined by John Searle, who categorized illocutionary acts into five main classes: assertives (states or describe), directives (orders, requests), commissives (promises, vows), expressives (express feelings or attitudes), and declarations (bringing about a change in status or condition through the utterance itself, such as appointing, firing, or marrying). Some utterances are performatives, in which the speaker performs an action by merely uttering the sentence (often with a performative verb like “apologize,” “promise,” or “hereby declare”), while others are not.

Felicity conditions govern when an illocutionary act succeeds: the utterance must be appropriate to the context, the speaker must have the authority, and the speaker’s intention and belief must align with the intended act. The theory emphasizes the social and contextual nature of language, showing how language can affect commitments, actions, or social relations beyond propositional content.

Sprechakte has influenced pragmatics, discourse analysis, and applied fields such as conversation analysis and natural language processing. Its concepts remain central to understanding how language functions in interaction, including issues of politeness, deception, and obligation.