Språkfilosofi I - Speech Acts

Declarative Sentences

Stating what the world is like, e.g. “The mayor stole the vote”

Interrogative Sentences

Asking what the world is like, e.g. “Who stole the vote?”

Imperative Sentences

Stating what the world must/ ought to be like, e.g. “Steal the vote!”

it seems plausible to assign truth conditions (or verification conditions) only to _____ sentences.

declarative

One of the main tenets of the doctrine of Logical Positivism was the claim that unless a sentence can be _____ (i.e. assessed for its truth or falsity), it is strictly speaking meaningless.

verified

Performatives

Declarative sentences used to perform actions

T-schema

‘S’ is true iff p

Here, S is a sentence and p is the state of affairs that must obtain in order for S to be true (you can also think of p as a proposition).

e.g. ‘Grass is green’ is true iff grass is green

Constatives

Describe the way the world is and are hence either true or false

Felicity conditions

Conditions that must be met for it to be appropriaet to use a performative

Austin’s list of felicity conditions

a. There must be a conventional procedure having a conventional effect.

b. The circumstances must be appropriate.

c. The procedure must executed correctly and completely.

d. The parties involved must have the right intentions

Violation of condition (a)

Suppose I point to a random individual in this room and say “I hereby inherit all your belongings”.

There is no conventional procedure by which I can come to inherit a random individual’s money simply by stating it.

Violation of condition (b)

Imagine a case where an individual without the proper authority attempts to perform some ceremony. (i.e. the circumstances are not appropriate)

Violation of condition (c)

Imagine a case where the wrong form of words are used (“you’re now married to him and you’re now married to her, congrats”). (i.e. the procedure has not been executed correctly and completely.)

Violation of condition (d)

Imagine a case where one party fails to assent. For example, “I bet you that Trump will be impeached” requires confirmation from the addressee in order to constitute a bet. (i.e. the relevant parties do not have the right intentions.)

First, Austin proposes a linguistic set of criteria: Performative sentences are ______, _____, ______, and in _______. This is insufficient. Austin proposes a further test, the hereby-test: if the word hereby can be appropriately inserted in front of the main verb, the sentence is a performative.

present tense, active, 1st person, and in the indicative mood

First, Austin proposes a linguistic set of criteria: Performative sentences are present tense, active, 1st person, and in the indicative mood. This is insufficient. Austin proposes a further test, the ______-test: if the word ____ can be appropriately inserted in front of the main verb, the sentence is a performative.

hereby

Hereby-test example

I (hereby) declare war on Zanzibar

Is the hereby-test sufficient?

No, still insufficient for a number of reasons

Austin gives up the distinction between performatives and constatives and instead focuses on the notion of ____.

force

Force

In uttering a sentence that has a certain meaning, one is simultaneously doing something. What exactly one is doing depends on the force of the utterance.

Speech Act

General term for the acts one can perform when making an utterance

Locutionary Act

The utterance of a sentence with a determinate meaning. By uttering a sentence, one performs a locutionary act, namely the act of moving one’s lips to produce certain sounds that together constitute a sentence.

Illocutionary Act

Making a statement, conjecture, promise, prediction, offer etc. by uttering a sentence given its conventional force.

This is generally what the notion of a speech act is taken to refer to.

Perlocutionary Act

Bringing about a certain effect on the audience by e.g. making an utterance.

Difference between illocutionary and perlocutionary acts

Illocutionary acts are determined by the conventional force associated with the utterance, i.e. what one can conventionally use the expression for.

Perlocutionary acts are context-dependent and not conventionally achieved by simply uttering.

Searle: Indirect Speech Act - example

“Can you reach the salt”

Searle distinguishes between _____ and ______ illocutionary acts. One locutionary act can thus feature both a _____ and ______ illocutionary act.

primary, secondary

According to Searle, there is no such thing as _______ literal meaning - the meaning of a sentence is always relative to a set of contextual assumptions

context-free

The literal meaning of the sentence “the cat is on the mat” does not have a clear application unless we make some further ______, in the case of cats and mats floating freely in outer space. Though our picture did not depict the earth’s gravitational field, it, like the sentence, only applies relative to a set of background ______.

assumptions

While imperatives do not have truth conditions, they are often assumed to have ______ conditions. The thought being that the meaning of an imperative can be explicated in terms of the conditions under which the imperative is obeyed.

obedience