SPEECH ACTS THEORY

1. Language and action: Austins Theory of Seech Acts:

a. The distinction !et"een the #eaning of sentence $true or fa%se& and
understanding "hat the sentence rea%%y #eans.
!. She te%%s a!out erfor#ati'e $action(co#%eting& use of certain
for#u%as:
i. PASS $in #aster#ind& ) it is not a true or fa%se state#ent
a!out the "or%d
1. *t has narro" circu#stances to say it
c. Locutionary act ) uttering a sentence "ith a non(a#!iguous
#eaning $deter#inate sense&
i. *ts #e again $the sea+er "as here !efore& ) truth 'a%ue
d. *%%ocutionary act ) erfor#ing an act !y uttering a sentence
i. *ts #e again $intention of the sea+er to ao%ogi,e ) no truth
'a%ue&
e. Per%ocution ) the effect the utterance #ight ha'e
i. *ts #e again $the effect of it is difficu%t to foresee ) #ight
#o%%ify the addressee- or #a+e hi# angry&
*./*RECT SPEECH ACTS
0. *ndirect seech acts:
a. *ts #e again ) an indirect utterance
!. 1hen for# of a sentence and function of the utterance dont #atch-
then it is an INDIRECT SPEECH ACT:
i. * "onder "hen the train %ea'es $dec%arati'e for# 2 3uestion
function&
ii. Ha'e a good 4ourney $i#erati'e for# 2 assertion 5 * hoe
you "i%% ha'e a good 4ourney&
iii. Te%% #e "hy you say that $i#erati'e for# 2 3uestion
function&
c. 1ho %i+es fish6
i. 7sed as an indirect act asserts that no one %i+es fish
8. /irect seech act:
a. Can anyone do any !etter6
i. *nterrogati'e for# is used to as+ a 3uestion ) +a9dy ,ro,u#ie
to dos:o"nie * ,areagu4e odo"iednio
ii. Ho"e'er- it can a%so !e understood indirect%y ) as indirect
re3uest;in'itaion;order
!. 1hen for# of a sentence $dec%arati'e;i#erati'e;interrogati'e& and
function of the utterance $assertion.order;re3uest;3uestion&
#atches- then it is a DIRECT SPEECH ACT:
i. .atura%%y- * hate #usic $dec%arati'e 2 assertion&
ii. P%ease turn the #usic do"n $i#erati'e 2 order&
H*STORY O< 1R*T*.=
>. Ear%y dra"ings #ade !y the ancient "ere the !asics for "riting
a. Ca'e dra"ings $%itera% ortraya%s of asects of %ife&
?. Pictogra#s e'o%'ed ) a direct i#age of an o!4ect it reresents
a. .on(ar!itrary re%ationshi !et"een the icture and the o!4ect it
reresents
!. They didnt reresent the sound of so+en %anguage
c. *t "as found around African tri!es- A#erican *ndians- A%as+an
Es+i#os- *ncas of Peru- eo%e of Oceania.
d. They can !e understood !y anyone
e. They cou%d reresent the attri!utes of the o!4ect they reresent
i. Sun ) #eaning "ar#th- %ight- dayti#e etc.
@. e. reresents *deogra#s ) reresenting ideas rather than o!4ects
Later- the ideogra#s and ictogra#s "ere sty%i,ed- !ecause the dra"ings
"ere oor and eo%e cou%d #isunderstand the#. They started to !eco#e
ar!itrary signs $"ithout +no"ing the syste#- you cou%dnt understand the
sign&- thus %inguistic sy#!o%s
A. A sy#!o% cou%d stand for the a "ord in any %anguage ) Andre Ec+ardt and
Bare% Cohnson in'ented P*CTO
a. Dery si#%e sentences through "ords %i+e E* ha'e house in to"n;*ch
ha!en Haus in StadtF $in e'ery %anguage&
G. S7HHER*A. 1R*T*.= SYSTEH
a. They %i'ed ?III years ago and they had the o%dest "riting syste#
$ictograhy&
i. Later they de'e%oed a cuneifor# "riting $is#o +%ino"e& ) it
didnt reresent the o!4ect to "hich it referred
Later on Su##erians "ere con3uered !y #any nations- "ho
!orro"ed their "riting syste# to their o"n %anguages and they used it to
represents sounds of the syllables in their %anguages:
a. Each sy%%a!%e is reresented !y each sy#!o%
Persians !y the reign of /arius- "ere using "riting syste#
reresenting sy%%a!%es- not "ho%e "ords.
J. REK7S PR*.C*PLE
a. *t is a reresentation of "ords or sy%%a!%e !y ictures of o!4ects
"hose na#es sound %i+e the intended sy%%a!%e. Thus the icture of
an eye #ay #ean EeyeF or E*F
1I.H*ERO=LYPHS
a. Origina%%y these "ere ictograhs- !ut %ater it !egan to reresent
sy%%a!%es
!. *t "as !orro"ed !y #any ci'i%i,ations- i.e. !y Se#itic eo%e ) they
in'ented 1est Se#itic Sy%%a!ary $!y 1?II K.C.& ) a sing%e sy#!o% 5
Consonant 2 fo%%o"ing Do"e%
11.PHOE.*C*A.S
a. They first %et one sy#!o% stand for one consonant- then the =ree+s
!orro"ed it for their %anguage $ho"e'er- Phoenicians had too #uch
consonants than =ree+- and "hat "as %eft started to reresent
'o"e% sounds&. <irst alphabetical system "as in'ented
i. *n a%ha!etica% syste# each sy#!o% reresents each hone#e
!. Etruscans too+ the =ree+ a%ha!et- assed it to Ro#ans- then
Christians assed it to #any nations
c. The a%ha!et "asnt in'ented ) it "as disco'ered
HO/ER. TYPES O< 1R*T*.= SYSTEHS
10.1ord "riting syste#
a. One "ritten sy#!o% reresents one "ord or a #orhe#e.
!. Chinese "riting has a syste# of characters ) each reresents the
#eaning of the "ord- not the sound.
c. *t can !e understood in e'ery art of China- or Ara!ic nu#era%s in
e'ery art of Euroe- A#erica etc.
18.Sy%%a!%e "riting
a. Caanese syste#
i. A%% "ords can !e reresented !y 1II different sy%%a!%es $CD(
tye- consonant ) 'o"e% tye&
ii. They ha'e t"o sy%%a!aries
1. >? sy%%a!%e %etters 2 se'era% diacritics for each
a. Bata+ana ) %oan "ords
!. Hiragana ) nati'e "ords a%one 2 Chinese "ords
iii. They !orro"ed the syste# fro# Chinese.
i'. Caanese is high%y inf%ected
1>.A%ha!etic "riting
a. They "ere in'ented on the !asis of hone#ic rinci%e $one %etter
reresents a hone#e "ith a%%ohones&
!. 10
th
century EThe <irst =ra##arianF- an *ce%andic scho%ar- de'e%oed
an orthograhy ta+en fro# Latin
i. *t "as !ased on hone#ic rinci%es
1. he used #ini#a% airs to sho" distincti'e contrast
0. for hi#- 'oiced units "ere a%%ohones of 'oice%ess ones
$;g; for ;+; etc.&
c. Han+u% $Borean a%ha!et& had 11 'o"e%s and 1A consonants $a
honetic a%ha!et& ) each sy#!o% reresented so#e %ace of
articu%ation
i. ;%; and ;r; had one sy#!o% ) they "ere a%%ohones of a one
hone#e
d. A%ha!etic sounds $ reading & L a%ha!etic characters $ "riting &
e. Host Euroean %anguages #a+e use of Latin characters $s%ight
differences eMist&
i. Sanish added a N o'er the On- =er#any added u#%aut )
these are ca%%ed diacritics
ii. /igrahs ) sh ; ch ; ng ) t"o characters reresenting one
sound
iii. Tur+ish- *ndonesian and S"ahi%i adoted Latin a%ha!et
f. Cyri%%ic is straight%y deri'ed fro# =ree+- "ith no Latin.