uttering

Uttering is the act of producing spoken language or, in linguistic analysis, the concrete instance of speech observed in a given context. The term can refer to both the process of vocalization and the content that is spoken.

In linguistics, an utterance is a spoken expression that occurs in a particular situation. It contrasts with the abstract sentence or proposition; the same sentence can be uttered in different ways with different illocutionary force. The study of utterances focuses on phonetics, pronunciation, intonation, and the social meaning conveyed by who speaks, to whom, when, and for what purpose. Illocutionary acts, as described by philosophers like Austin and Searle, classify utterances by their intended function, such as a question, command, promise, or statement.

In development, children progress from cooing and babbling to uttering recognizable words and, later, sentences. The term remains general for spoken output across languages, though its acoustic form varies.

In law, uttering has a specialized meaning. In many common law jurisdictions, it denotes presenting or using a forged or fraudulent document with intent to defraud, sometimes described as promising to make it effective by uttering it to another. The precise elements and penalties differ by jurisdiction and statute, but the core idea is the act of offering a document for use that the actor knows to be false.

See also: utterance, speech act, forgery.