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RESEARCH AND APPLICATION

THEORY

1. Give your own definition of
a) a speech act;
b) a speech event.

2. Give examples of various speech events in business/ nonbusiness environment.

3. Describe Searle’s classification of illocutionary acts.

4. Speak on felicity conditions.

5. Give examples of felicity conditions on different types of speech acts.

6. What is typical of a performative utterance?

7. Speak on direct and indirect illocutionary acts.

8. Explain the difference between explicit and implicit locutionary acts.

9. Compare Austin’s and Searle’s functions with those of writers in applied linguistics. How do
these relate to each other? How do they link speech acts to research on human
communication?

10. Find the mistakes (if any) in the following.

A. Speech acts have two facets: an illocutionary act (what is done) and a locutionary act
(what is said). The illocutionary act can be achieved either with an explicit performative
(a performative verb used in its performative sense) or a nonexplicit performative. A
nonexplicit illocutionary act can be performed either directly (syntactic form matches
illocutionary force) or indirectly. On the other hand, the illocutionary act can be either
expressed (articulates propositional content condition) or implied. Likewise, the
locutionary act can be expressed either literally (does not require a nonliteral
interpretation) or nonliterally.
B. The illocutionary part of a speech act is what the utterance does rather than what it
says. Illocutionary acts are generally grouped into seven types: representatives,
directives, verdicatives, commissives, questions, expressives and declarations.
Illocutionary acts are valid only if their felicity conditions are met. These conditions can
be grouped into four categories: prepararory, sincerity, essential, and propositional
content. Illocutionary acts can be achieved through either an explicit or an implicit
performative. An implicit performative can be either direct or indirect.

ANALYSIS

1. For each of the following utterances, state (1) the syntactic form, (2) the illocutionary act (i.e.
representative, commissive, etc.) it performs.

1. A doctor says to a patient, “I advise you to stop smoking.”
2. A priest says to an infant, “I baptize you in the name of…”