The Speech Act Theory: An Evaluation Of The Speech Theory

Evaluation of the Speech Theory The speech act is the basic unit of language used to express meaning, an utterance that expresses an intention. (University of Twente, 2017). Generally, the speech act is usually referenced as a sentence, but it can be a word or phrase, if it follows the rules required to accomplish the intention. When we speak, we perform an act. Speech is not just used to designate something, it does something. So, having said this, the Speech Act Theory basically stresses the intent of the act (speech). There are four types of Speech Acts: utterance act, propositional act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act. John Searle, one of founders of this theory, believes that the speaker performs an act by observing two types …show more content…
L. Austin (University of Twente, 2017). The Locutionary Act is roughly equivalent to uttering a sentence with a certain “meaning” in the traditional senses. An example of the Locutionary Act is when we are saying something to someone and we stutter. The Illocutionary Act is those that inform, order, warn, undertaking utterances which have a straight force. Austin focused on illocutionary acts. An example of the Illocutionary Act is when we say, “Don´t run with scissors”. It has the force of a warning when speak in a certain context. The Perlocutionary Act is what we bring about or achieve by saying something, such as convincing, persuading, deterring, or even, surprising or misleading. An example of the Perlocutionary Act is when the speaker says, “Shut the window” which is intended for the other person in the conversation to take this as an order and meaning this person should shut the …show more content…
It has been tradition that the seniors would give gifts to the band director for years, so we decided to be extra special and give her a stuffed animal that meant a lot to her because she had lost her first one in the flood caused by Hurricane Matthew. Well at first, I was pretty confident about what I was doing, then when it got to the day the concert I was getting much more nervous and tense. I was very excited but when it got time for me to speak I was so nervous that when I was talking I stuttered and I couldn’t figure out what to say anymore that I kept repeating myself. Eventually I got some help from my classmates which made me more confident and I was able to understand that everything was alright and that it was like talking to my friends because most of the audience were