"In the philosophy of language and linguistics, speech act is something expressed by an individual that not only presents information but performs an action as well."
How speakers can use indirect language to convey politeness, assertiveness, or other social meanings.
Speech Acts: The study of language uses as actions, for example, making commands or promises.
Indirectness: Understanding the use of language to convey meanings in a non-literal manner.
Locutionary, Illocutionary, and Perlocutionary Acts: Understanding the different levels of meaning in speech acts.
Politeness: Understanding the strategies used to avoid directness in communication and maintain social harmony.
Grice's Cooperative Principle: Understanding the principles of communication and how they can be violated for indirect communication.
Speech Act Theory: Understanding the philosophical and linguistic framework for studying speech acts.
Cultural Variation: Understanding how indirectness and politeness vary across cultures and contexts.
Pragmatic Competence: Understanding the ability to use language appropriately in various social and cultural contexts, including indirect communication.
Deixis: Understanding the use of language to refer to specific people, things, times, and places in communication.
Context: Understanding how cultural, social, and situational factors contribute to the interpretation of indirect communication.
Declaration: The speaker creates a new reality through their speech (e.g. "I now pronounce you husband and wife.").
Directive: The speaker tries to make the listener do something (e.g. "Close the door please.").
Commissive: The speaker commits to doing something in the future (e.g. "I'll see you tomorrow.").
Expressive: The speaker conveys their own feelings or attitudes (e.g. "I'm so happy for you.").
Assertive: The speaker asserts a truth or makes a claim about the world (e.g. "The sky is blue.").
Failing to directly assert: The speaker hints or implies rather than stating directly (e.g. "It's a bit chilly in here.").
Hedging: The speaker uses phrases like "sort of" or "maybe" to soften a statement (e.g. "I sort of agree.").
Politeness: The speaker uses polite language to avoid offending or imposing on the listener (e.g. "Would you mind closing the door?").
Indirect request: The speaker hints at a request rather than making it directly (e.g. "I could really use some help right now.").
Sarcasm: The speaker uses irony or sarcasm to convey their true meaning indirectly (e.g. "Oh sure, because I just love being stuck in traffic.").
"For example, the phrase 'I would like the kimchi; could you please pass it to me?' is considered a speech act as it expresses the speaker's desire to acquire the kimchi, as well as presenting a request that someone pass the kimchi to them."
"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."
"Speech acts serve their function once they are said or communicated. These are commonly taken to include acts such as apologizing, promising, ordering, answering, requesting, complaining, warning, inviting, refusing, and congratulating."