Austin's Speech Act Theory revolutionized how we understand language. It showed that speaking isn't just about describing things, but also about performing actions. This theory distinguishes between constative utterances that describe reality and performative utterances that actually do something when spoken.

The theory breaks down speech acts into three components: locutionary (the actual words), illocutionary (the intended meaning), and perlocutionary (the effect on the listener). This helps us understand how language works in real-world communication and how context shapes meaning.

Austin's Speech Act Theory

Constative vs performative utterances

• Constative utterances describe or report states of affairs that can be evaluated as true or false ("The Earth revolves around the Sun")
• Performative utterances perform actions when spoken and cannot be evaluated as true or false ("I hereby declare this meeting adjourned")
• Saying the words in a performative utterance constitutes performing the action (pronouncing a couple married, naming a ship)

Illocutionary force in speech acts

• Illocutionary force is the intended meaning or purpose behind an utterance that determines the type of speech act being performed (stating, questioning, commanding)
• Illocutionary force conveys the speaker's intention and guides the interpretation of the utterance ("Can you pass the salt?" has the illocutionary force of a request)
• Different illocutionary forces can be expressed through the same locutionary act ("I'll be there" can be a promise or a threat depending on the context)

Components of Speech Acts

Austin's three speech act types

• Locutionary act: the act of uttering a meaningful sentence consisting of phonetic (producing sounds), phatic (producing words and grammatical structures), and rhetic (producing meaningful utterances) acts
• Illocutionary act: the act performed in saying something that conveys the speaker's intention or purpose (stating, questioning, commanding, promising)
• Perlocutionary act: the consequential effects or results of an utterance on the listener, including their thoughts, feelings, and actions (persuading, convincing, scaring, inspiring)

Utterances and actions in communication

• Utterances are a form of action according to speech acts theory, as speaking is not just describing or reporting but also doing (pronouncing a couple married changes their social reality)
• Indirect speech acts occur when the literal meaning differs from the intended illocutionary force and relies on context and shared knowledge for proper interpretation ("It's cold in here" can be a request to close the window)
• Felicity conditions are the conditions that must be met for a speech act to be successful and appropriate, including preparatory (the speaker has the authority to perform the act), sincerity (the speaker intends to follow through), and essential (the utterance counts as performing the act) conditions