2. A. History and Introduction
J.L. AUSTIN 1962
The first founder of
speech act theory
J.R. SEARLE 1969
Developer of Austin
theories
3. 3
SPEECH
ACTS
THEORY
Speech act theory analyse what we do with words
that utterances enterprises not only the context of
meaning and also the effect by saying something. This
theory was formerly introduced by a philosopher J.L.
Austin (1962) on his book entitled “HOW TO DO
THINGS WITH WORDS” that elicited three degrees of
utterance that is Locutionary act, Illocutionary act, and
Perlocutionary act. Then, in 1969 Searle developed
Austin’s theory, locutionary act, into 5 parts in order to
ease and comprehend the scope of it.
4. 4
What is speech act
exactly?
Both Austin and Searle believed that language is not
only used to inform or describe things, it is often used
“to do things”, to perform acts. In the other words,
actions perform via utterances are generally called
speech acts.
“In short : speech act is saying by doing an action"
5. 5
LOCUTIONARY
ACT
ILLOCUTIO
NARY ACT
PERLOCUTI
ONARY ACT
The act of saying or
writing something in a
language. It is the
actual words spoken.
The “intention” we have when
saying or writing something.
The force of the word.
The making of a statement,
offer, promise, etc. in
uttering a sentence, by virtue
of the conventional force
associated with it
The effect produced
in the listener or
reader when they
listen or read a
locutionary act.
SPEECH ACT THEORY
BY J.L. AUSTIN
Basic Meaningful
Utterance
(Literal Meaning,
Explicit Meaning)
Implicit Meaning
Result or Effect
From
Illocutionary
6. EXAMPLE
6
It’s hot
here
Locutionary Act
The speaker feels hot in
his place
Illocutionary Act
The utterance has two
possible meaning inside :
Asking/requesting someone
to open up the window
Asking/requesting someone
to turn on the AC
Perlocutionary Act
Probbably the hearer will
open up the window or
turn on the AC
8. 8
Represen
tative
Directives
Expressiv
e
Commisiv
e
Declarativ
e
The words tries to make the hearer to do something
ex: Give me your pen!
The words and expressions that change the world by their
utterance ex : I now pronounce you man and wife
The words state what the speaker believes to be the case,
such as “describing”, “insisting”, “predicting”, “hypothesizing”
ex: The earth is round
The words expresses a psychological statement
ex: Sorry for being late
The words commits the speaker to the future course of
action ex : I will repay the money
ILLOCUTIONARY ACT DIVISION
BY SEARLE
9. 9
LIST OF ILLOCUTIONARY
TAXONOMIES
(Fraser, 1975)
1. Acts of Asserting (accuse, acknowledge, add, admit, affirm, agree, deny, protest, profess, reaffirm)
e.g. : Never do that again!
2. Acts of Evaluating (analyze, portray, adjudge, assess, make, theorise, appraise, interpret,)
e.g. : This area more suitable becomes a local project
3. Acts of Reflecting Speaker Atittude (accept, apology, acclaim, congratulate, thanking)
e.g. : Congratulation on your winning!
4. Acts of stipulating (abbreviate, begin, call, use, classify, distinguish, specify, select)
e.g. : This building was established in 1998
5. Acts of requesting (appeal, beg, call on, instruct, inquire, insist, request)
e.g. : Can you stay for a while
6. Acts of suggesting (advice, caution, counsel, urge, warn, propose)
e.g. : Be careful, the floor is slippery!
7. Acts of Exercising Authority (abolish, adopt, allow, reject, withdraw, choose, takeback)
e.g. : We may pass this way
8. Acts of Commiting (assume, assure, accept, pledge, swear)
e.g. : I will never leave you
11. 11
Performative verbs are verbs that describe actions carried out by speakers.That
is, when we say or write a verb we also perform the action described by the verb
at the same time. For example, when we say the word "promise", this means that
at the same time we are making a promise.
One way in which a particular speech act might be identified is through the use of
a performative verb.
The example of performative verbs are lend, hear, explain, pay, claim, promise,
touch, agree, order, predict, declare, refuse, warn, etc.
Utterance Performative Verb Speech act
I warn you of the dog warn warning
I promise not to be late promise promising
I request you to take out the garbage request requesting
12. 12
Explicit and implicit performative speech acts containing performative verbs are
often direct speech acts because they carry out their functions directly and
literally.
Austin distinguishes between explicit performatives and implicit performatives.
Explicit Performatives
are performative utterances
that contain a performative
verb that makes explicit what
kind of act is being performed.
Implicit Performatives
are performative utterances in
which there is no such
performative verb.
I promise to come to your
party tomorrow.
I order you to shut up. (an
order)
I hereby order you that you
clean up this mess.
I’ll come to your party
tomorrow.
Shut up. (an order/a
warning/an advice)
Clean up this mess !
14. 14
Felicity conditions refers to the conditions that must be in place and the criteria that must be
satisfied for a speech act to achieve its purpose. Because a sentence must not only be
grammatically correct, it must also be felicitous, that is situationally appropriate.
Eg. I sentence you to six months in prison.
The performance won't be appropriate if the speaker is not a specific person in special context
(in this case, the speaker must be a judge in a courtroom)
A speech act needs to be performed along certain types conditions, in order to be successfully
recognized.
Propositional
Content
Preparatory
Content
Sincerity
Condition
Essential
Condition
Requires the
participants to
understand the
language, not to act
like actors or to lie.
E.g. Promise or
warning must be
about the future
Requires that the
speech act is
embedded in a
context that is
conventionally
recognize.
E.g. Just by
uttering a promise,
the event will not
happen by itself.
Requires that the
speaker is sincere in
uttering the
declaration.
E.g. Promise is only
effective when the
speaker really
intends to carry out.
Requires that all
parties intend the
result.
E.g. Change state of
speaker from non-
obligation to
obligation (promise).
15. 15
So, what happens
when some of
these conditions
are absent?
If any of these conditions is
not fulfilled, the utterance are
not felicitous.
The reason is that felicity
conditions are conventions that
speakers and the listener use
as a code to produce and
recognize actions.
17. 17
DIRECT
SPEECH ACT
INDIRECT
SPEECH ACT
A direct relationship
between the form and
the function of the
utterance.
An indirect relationship
between the form and
the function of the
utterance.
Declarative : statement
You wear a seat belt
Interrogative : question
Do you wear a seat belt ?
Imperative : command
Wear a seat belt !
Declarative : request
You’re standing in front of
the TV
Interrogative : request
Could you pass the salt?
18. 18
It’s cold
outside
Direct Speech Act
I hereby tell you about
the weather
Indirect Speech Act
I hereby request of you
that you close the door.
19. Social
dimension
Cultural
dimension
The ways to express
speech act in
different country,
region, or from
culture to culture
Directive and Indirective
Speech
(Lack of familiarity,
different status, age,
power or authority, etc)
Speech acts
and society
E.g.: Students says to the teacher
“would you please to raise your voice,
maam” instead of “say it loudly”
E.g.: How fat you are
India (Praising - Symbol of prosperity
and health)
Indonesia (Insulting – Body shaming)
21. Alfi Nur Azizah, Suparno, Sri Samiati Tarjana
Published: 2019
SPEECH ACTS USED BY
ENGLISH TEACHERS IN
EFL CLASSROOM
Group 2
Anindya
Zumala
Dewi
22. To investigate teachers’
speech acts used for
teaching English in EFL
classroom and its
implication in a classroom
context.
OBJECTIVES
Descriptive qualitative
method
METHOD
There were four speech
acts used by the teacher.
FINDINGS
23. INTRODUCTION
- Classroom interaction is important.
- The use of language in classroom: utterances.
- The use of speech acts.
- Previous study on speech acts.
- Research objectives.
27. Directives speech
acts to foster
productive abilities
for students.
Students achieved high
results in speaking and
writing.
Implications
28. CONCLUSION
- Students are encouraged to answer the
questions.
- Teachers are expected to expose instruction in
English using directives speech acts.
