For my speech acts paper, I have decided to analyze and transcribe part of the provided audio file uploaded on Canvas. In this audio file, there is a conversation between a customer and a customer service representative about the status of a repair, likely for a product that was shipped to a service repair center. During the beginning of the conversation, the customer indicates that he wants to check the status of the item (possibly a computer based on the name of the company on file) and the customer service representative checks the status of it on the customer’s account. Before the representative tells the customer the actual status of the item (it hasn’t even been looked into yet by the repair service), the customer assumes that the item
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In general, a speech act can be thought of as a statement, whose meaning is co-constructed with the previous and following responses of other interlocutors (participants in the conversation). Some obvious examples of speech acts include making promises or jokes, providing constructive criticism, asking questions, seeking advice, changing the subject, showing care or interest, displaying hate, being angry, and so on. In the “building block” approach, which has first introduced by J. L. Austin, utterances either describe things logically (called “constantives”) or if they performed an act (“performatives”). In order for a performative to be effective and meaningful, it must be performed in the proper context, where it is expected for use. For instance, if a civilian tells a police officer he is under arrest, the speech act will not mean what the civilian intended (in fact, the civilian could end up being arrested for committing this speech act). In order for this speech act to have a proper meaningful effect, an officer is designated to determine when someone is under arrest. Also, under this approach, John Searle has built upon Austin’s work by categorizing speech acts as being part of five categories (assertives, directives, commissives, expressives, and declarations) and each of these categories is either made or not in a particular utterance. For instance, the first part of Socrates’ classic syllogism, “all men are mortal,” is described as an assertive, whereas a priest’s declaration of “I now pronounce you husband and wife” classifies as a
In general, a speech act can be thought of as a statement, whose meaning is co-constructed with the previous and following responses of other interlocutors (participants in the conversation). Some obvious examples of speech acts include making promises or jokes, providing constructive criticism, asking questions, seeking advice, changing the subject, showing care or interest, displaying hate, being angry, and so on. In the “building block” approach, which has first introduced by J. L. Austin, utterances either describe things logically (called “constantives”) or if they performed an act (“performatives”). In order for a performative to be effective and meaningful, it must be performed in the proper context, where it is expected for use. For instance, if a civilian tells a police officer he is under arrest, the speech act will not mean what the civilian intended (in fact, the civilian could end up being arrested for committing this speech act). In order for this speech act to have a proper meaningful effect, an officer is designated to determine when someone is under arrest. Also, under this approach, John Searle has built upon Austin’s work by categorizing speech acts as being part of five categories (assertives, directives, commissives, expressives, and declarations) and each of these categories is either made or not in a particular utterance. For instance, the first part of Socrates’ classic syllogism, “all men are mortal,” is described as an assertive, whereas a priest’s declaration of “I now pronounce you husband and wife” classifies as a