"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."
The study of how language is used to perform actions or accomplish goals, such as making promises, giving orders, or expressing opinions.
Speech Act Theory: A theory that examines the role of language in communicative events, focusing on the ways in which speakers use language to perform actions such as making requests, giving orders, and making promises.
Illocutionary Force: The intended meaning of a speech act, including its purpose, intention, or effect. Examples of illocutionary force include suggesting, commanding, promising, and expressing gratitude.
Locutionary Act: The act of producing an utterance with a specific form and meaning, including its grammatical structure, lexical content, and sentence meaning.
Perlocutionary Effect: The effect or response that a speech act has on the listeners. For example, if someone makes a threatening statement, the perlocutionary effect might be fear, intimidation, or anger.
Felicity Conditions: The necessary conditions for a speech act to be successful or effective, including the knowledge and intent of the speaker, the context of the utterance, and the appropriateness of the speech act for the situation.
Direct and Indirect Speech Acts: A direct speech act is one in which the illocutionary force directly corresponds to the form of the utterance, whereas an indirect speech act involves using language in a more indirect way to convey intended meaning.
Politeness Theory: A theory that examines the ways in which speakers use language to avoid threatening the face or dignity of the listener, including strategies such as politeness markers, indirect speech acts, and hedging.
Conversational Maxims: A set of rules or guidelines that govern the cooperative nature of conversation, including the maxims of relevance, quantity, quality, and manner.
Speech Act Realization: The process by which speakers choose the appropriate speech act to achieve their communicative goals, taking into account factors such as the relationship between speaker and listener, the context of the interaction, and the speaker's communicative intent.
Pragmatics: The study of language in use, focusing on the ways in which context, intention, and implicature affect linguistic meaning and interpretation.
Speech Acts in Literature: A branch of literary theory that examines the ways in which authors use language to perform speech acts, including the effect that these speech acts have on the reader and the interpretation of the text.
Stylistic Analysis: A method of literary analysis that examines the form, structure, and style of a text, including the ways in which the author uses language to create meaning and effect.
Assertive Speech Acts: Assertions or declarations made by the speaker. For example, 'The earth is round.'.
Directives Speech Acts: These are actions that are intended to influence the behavior of the listener. For example, 'Please turn off the lights.'.
Commissives Speech Acts: These are statements that commit the speaker to a particular action. For example, 'I will wash the dishes tonight.'.
Expressives Speech Acts: These statements express a particular emotion or feeling. For example, 'I am sorry for your loss.'.
Declarations Speech Acts: These create a new reality by the mere act of stating it. For example, 'I declare this meeting open.'.
Representative Speech Acts: These describe a state of affairs or express a belief about the world. For example, 'It seems to be raining outside.'.
Performative Speech Acts: These are statements that accomplish or perform the action that they describe. For example, 'I promise to be there at 3 pm.'.
Verdictives Speech Acts: These are statements that express a judgment or evaluation of something. For example, 'That movie was terrible.'.
Expositives Speech Acts: These clarify or explain a particular concept or idea. For example, 'This is how you calculate interest.'.
Conatives Speech Acts: These are attempts to get the listener to do something. For example, 'Please sign this petition.'.
Exhortatives Speech Acts: These are verbal attempts to persuade the listener to do something. For example, 'You should exercise regularly.'.
Interrogatives Speech Acts: These involve asking questions in order to elicit information. For example, 'What time is it?'.
Representatives Speech Acts: These represent or characterize the state of an individual, group, or thing. For example, 'John is feeling frustrated.'.
Directives Speech Acts: These are commands or requests given to the listener. For example, 'Please pass the salt.'.
Declarations Speech Acts: These are statements that declare a new state of affairs or situation. For example, 'I now pronounce you husband and wife.'.
Assertives Speech Acts: These are statements that assert or affirm a certain fact or belief. For example, 'The sky is blue.'.
Promissives Speech Acts: These are statements that promise to perform a certain action or task. For example, 'I promise to clean the house today.'.
Thankings: These are statements of gratitude or thankfulness toward someone. For example, 'Thank you for your help.'.
Apologies: These are statements of remorse or regret for a certain action or behavior. For example, 'I am sorry for being late.'.
Congratuations: These express joy or acclamation to something that has occurred. For example, 'Congratulations on your promotion.'.
"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."