speechact

Speech act theory studies how utterances function as actions in social life, not merely convey information. An utterance involves three aspects: the locutionary act (the words spoken), the illocutionary act (the social action performed, such as asserting, ordering, promising), and the perlocutionary act (the listener’s response or effect). A key distinction is that language can perform actions: constatives describe states of affairs, while performatives enact moves by saying them.

Origins and development: J. L. Austin introduced the framework in How to Do Things with Words (1955). He distinguished performatives from constatives; later, John R. Searle expanded the account with a detailed taxonomy of illocutionary forces and felicity conditions, refining how utterances succeed or fail.

Classification: Searle and successors categorize illocutionary acts into representatives (claims), directives (requests, orders), commissives (promises), expressives (thanks, apologies), and declarations (pronouncements that alter the world). Direct versus indirect speech acts distinguish intended illocutionary force from literal form.

Examples: "I name this ship Enterprise" is a performative declaration. "It's raining" is a representative. "Close the door" is a directive. "I promise to finish it" is a commissive. "I'm sorry" is an expressive.

Relevance: The theory informs pragmatics, semantics, discourse analysis, and human-computer interaction by clarifying how speakers intend actions and how listeners interpret them, including politeness, authority, and social norms.