Speech Acts

Speech Acts

• Language is useful!

• We use it to convey information, request information, give orders, make requests, make threats, give warnings, make bets, give advice, offer apologies, tell jokes, pay compliments, etc. --> These are called Speech Acts.

• John Jones was at the office yesterday until 6 P.M.

• Who ate all the cookies?

• Sit down and be quiet.

• Please let me know if you’ll be attending.

• If you do that again, I’ll report you.

• Watch out—there’s a huge pothole there.

• Five bucks says that the Buckeyes will beat the Wolverines this year

Performative Verbs and Performative Speech Acts

• A Performative Speech Act is a special kind of speech act is one in which the particular action named by the verb is accomplished in the performance of the speech act itself.

• For example, someone can say “I am throwing a ball” without a ball actually being thrown (the throwing action is separate from an assertion about such an action).

• But someone cannot normally say “I promise to take you to the store later” without actually making such a promise.

• "Promise" is an example of a Performative Verb which denotes such purely linguistic actions

• Certain ceremonies or formal actions require the use of performative verbs.

  • (A) I hereby pronounce you husband and wife.

  • (B) I hereby quit.

  • (C) I promise I drive you to work tomorrow.

  • (D) We declare the defendant not guilty.

• These examples contain a very specialized group of performative verbs in that, by using one, a speaker not only performs a speech act but also changes something about the world.

• --> They're not always felicitous!

Performative Verbs and Performative Speech Acts Example

• Consider: a dentist saying (A) to two patients; a frustrated worker screaming (B) alone in their office; (C) uttered by a 6 year old

• Note: Not all speech acts containing verbs that can be used performatively are performative speech acts. Consider the following sentences:

• (A) I promise I will help you with your project this week.

• (B) John promises he will help you with your project this week.

• (C) I will promise to help you with your project this week.

• Only (A) use promise as a performative verb.

• Why? There are two major requirements for performatives:

  • i) the subject of the sentence must be first person, I or we, since these speech acts concern the interaction between speakers and hearers; and

  • ii) the verb must be in the present tense, since performative speech acts, like all actions, take place in the present

• One test to see whether a verb is being used performatively is the hereby test

• We take the word hereby and insert it before the potentially performative verb.

  • (A) I hereby promise I will help you with your project this week.

  • (B) #John hereby promises he will help you with your project this week.

  • (C) #I will hereby promise to help you with your project this week.

• (Note: Sometimes this test is difficult to use because many such sentences sound awkward. This could be because people tend not to utter speech acts using performative verbs or because hereby may sound somewhat archaic.)

Direct and Indirect Speech Acts

• The types of speech acts that we have been considering are called direct speech acts, because they perform their functions in a direct and literal manner.

• So far, we have discussed direct speech acts that can be performed in two ways: (a) by making a direct, literal utterance, or (b) by using a performative verb that names the speech act.

• In addition to these direct speech acts, we can use the felicity conditions to make indirect speech acts

• We perform indirect speech acts very frequently, especially when we are trying to be polite

Indirect Speech Acts

• Speech Act: Question

• Direct

  • Did John marry Helen? I’m asking you whether John married Helen.

• Indirect

  • I don’t know if John married Helen. I would like to know if John married Helen. Do you know whether John married Helen?

• Speech Act: Request

• Direct

  • (Please) Take out the garbage. I request that you take out the garbage.

• Indirect

  • The garbage hasn’t been taken out yet. I would like for you to take out the garbage. Could you take out the garbage? Would you mind taking out the garbage?

Identifying an Indirect Speech Act

• Check whether the sentence's literal meaning is not felicitous but the intended meaning is! In that case, it's an indirect speech act.

• Example:

  • If taken literally, "Can you take out the garbage?" would be a question asking whether the hearer is able to take out the garbage.

  • For this to be a felicitous question, the speaker's intent would be to learn the answer to the literal meaning of the question.

  • In many situations (e.g., assuming the hearer is not disabled), the speaker clearly knows the answer to this question.

  • On the other hand, the intended meaning of the speaker requesting the hearer to take out the garbage would be felicitous.

  • Therefore, this sentence is not a direct speech act of questioning, but an indirect speech act of making a request

Connecting Speech Act and Sentence Types