In linguistics, an utterance defined in terms of a speaker's intention and the effect it has on a

listener.
Speech-act theory, as introduced by Oxford philosopher J.L. Austin (How to Do Things With
Words, 1962) and further developed by American philosopher J.R. Searle, considers the types of
acts that utterances can be said to perform:

Locutionary Acts
Illocutionary Acts
Perlocutionary Acts

Etymology:
Term derived from the work of J. L. Austin and popularized by John Searle

Examples and Observations:

"[I]n order to explain what can go wrong with statements we cannot just concentrate on
the proposition involved (whatever that is) as has been done traditionally. We must
consider the total situation in which the utterance is issued--the total speech-act--if we
are to see the parallel between statements and performative utterances, and how each can
go wrong. So the total speech act in the total speech situation is emerging from logic
piecemeal as important in special cases: and thus we are assimilating the supposed
constative utterance to the perfomative."
(J. L. Austin, How to Do Things With Words, 2nd ed., ed. by J. O. Urmson and Marina
Sbis. Harvard University Press, 1975)

Direct and Indirect Speech Acts

"We use the term speech act to describe actions such as 'requesting,' 'commanding,'
'questioning,' or 'informing.' We can define a speech act as the action performed by a
speaker with an utterance. If you say, I'll be there at six, you are not just speaking, you
seem to be performing the speech act of 'promising.'
"When an interrogative structure such as Did you . . .? Are they . . .? or Can we . . .? is
used with the function of a question, it is described as a direct speech act. For example,
when we don't know something and we ask someone to provide the information, we
usually produce a direct speech act such as Can you ride a bicycle?

"Compare that utterance with Can you pass the salt? [Here] we are not really asking a
question about someone's ability. In fact, we don't normally use this structure as a
question at all. . . . This is an example of an indirect speech act."
(George Yule, The Study of Language. Cambridge University Press, 2006)

Categories and Families of Speech Acts

"Several categories of speech acts have been proposed, viz. directives (speakers try to get
their listeners to do something, e.g. begging, commanding, requesting), commissives
(speakers commit themselves to a future course of action, e.g. promising, guaranteeing),
expressives (speakers express their feelings, e.g. apologizing, welcoming, sympathizing),
declarations (the speaker's utterance brings about a new external situation, e.g.
christening, marrying, resigning) . . .."
(David Crystal, Dictionary of Linguistics. Blackwell, 1997)
"Austin (1962: Lecture l2) suggests that it is possible to distinguish a number of broad
classes or families of speech acts, classified according to their illocutionary force. He
suggests the following classes:
- Verdictives, typified by the giving of a verdict, estimate, reckoning, or appraisal;
giving a finding.
- Excersitives, the exercising of powers, rights or influence, exemplified by
voting, ordering, urging, advising, warning, etc.
- Commissives, typified by promising or otherwise undertaking (Austin 1962:
151-2): 'they commit you to do something, but include also declarations or
announcements of intention, which are not promises, and also rather vague things
which we might call espousals, as for example, 'siding with.'
- Behavitives, which have to do with social behaviour and attitudes, for example,
apologising, congratulating, commending, condoling, cursing and challenging.
- Expositives, which make it clear how our utterances fit into the course of an
argument or conversation--how we are using words. In a way these might be
classed as metalinguistic, as part of the language we are using about language.
Examples are I reply; I argue; I concede; I illustrate; I assume; I postulate.
Austin is quite clear that there are many marginal cases, and many instances of overlap,
and a very large body of research exists as a result of people's efforts to arrive at more
precise classifications . . .."
(Kirsten Malmkjaer, "Speech-Act Theory." The Routledge Linguistics Encyclopedia, 3rd
ed., edited by K. Malmkjaer. Routledge, 2010)

Rhetoric and Speech Acts

"Rhetoricians, adhering to a speech act theory approach, need to study more than the
words uttered during a communication transaction. Indeed, the assumptions, norms, roles,
and stances taken by the speaker and listener need to be thoroughly described and
categorized. Such an undertaking is a viable and necessary direction for the rhetorician
wishing to have a firm understanding and appreciation of discourse."
(James L. Golden, The Rhetoric of Western Thought, 8th ed. Kendall Hunt, 2003)