Speech Act Approach to

Discourse Analysis

Speech Act
Socio-linguists

have put forward

the idea that all speech can be
seen as a variety of social
action, such as greeting, promise
or declaration, etc.

Labov

(1970) says that there are rules of

interpretation which relate what is said to
what is done and it is upon the
presupposition of these rules that any
given dialogue can be considered
coherent or incoherent.
Example 1
Doctor: Whats your name?
Patient: Well lets say you might have thought
you had something from before, but you
havent got it any more.
Doctor: Im going to call you Dean.

Example 2
A: Thats the telephone.
B: Im in the bath.
A: OK.
Widdowson

(1978) argues that it is only by analyzing each

part of the dialogue and extracting the action which each
is performing within the dialogue, that it is possible to
accept this conversation as coherent.
So we analyse the conversation in the following way:
A requests B to perform action (answer the phone).
B states reason why he cannot comply with request.
A undertakes to perform action (or at least accepts
non-compliance).
Here we begin to perceive how conversations can be
analyzed as a series of transactions and conversational
moves within a contextual structure.

How Do People Recognize

Speech Acts in Discourse?
We

can generally5 infer the speech act from the following three
properties:
1. Locutionary Act
The content of the utterance: That is to say the proposition
expressed by the utterance. Defining what that is not always easy. If I
say Shut the door I mean Bring it about that, by some (future)
action, the proposition The door is shut becomes true in the context
of the physical world. Of course we also use background knowledge
and knowledge of the speaker to deduce the content of an utterance.
I assume for simplicitys sake that this is possible to do although not
necessarily unambiguously so.
2. Illocutionary Act
The pragmatic 'illocutionary force' of the utterance, thus its intended
significance as a socially valid verbal action
3. Perlocutionary Act
The position of the utterance within a conversation. Its actual effect,
such as persuading, convincing, scaring, enlightening, inspiring, or
otherwise getting someone to do or realize something, whether
intended or not (Austin 1962)

Illocutionary Act
Searle (1975) has set up the following classification of
illocutionary speech acts:
Assertives= speech acts that commit a speaker to
believing the expressedproposition, e.g. reciting acreed
Directives= speech acts that are to cause the hearer to
take a particular action, e.g. requests, commands and
advice
Commissives= speech acts that commit a speaker to
doing some future action, e.g. promises and oaths
Expressives= speech acts that express the speaker's
attitudes and emotions towards the proposition, e.g.
congratulations, excuses and thanks
Declarations= speech acts that change the social
sphere in accord with the proposition of the declaration,
e.g. baptisms or pronouncing someone husband and wife

Assertives
They

are representations of reality. An

assertive is a speech act that commits the
speaker to the truth of a proposition.
Assertives are either true or false. Assertives
refer to statements, descriptions,
classifications, explanations, and clarifications.
Example:

"Socrates is bald
"2+2=4
"All men are mortal
"Barack Obama is the president of the United
States".

Assertives
Direct

A : The floor is dirty

B : It is. Do you know why?
A : The kids spilled the paint yesterday.
Indirect
A : What time is it?
B : Im sorry Sir, I got a little accident on my way here.
A : Dont be late next time.
Context
A teacher ask a student who is late. It looks like a
question, but the teachers intention is to assert to the
student that he is late.

Directives
Attempts

by the speaker to try to get the

hearer to do something. Correct uses of
directives must always refer to future
voluntary acts. Directives include orders,
commands, requests and refer to pleading,
begging, praying, insisting, and
suggesting.
Examples:

"Please bless my family

Go to your room
"Pass the salt
"vote for me".

Directives
Direct

A : Can you clean this floor?

B : Sure, let me take the vacuum.
Indirect

A : The floor is dirty

B : Sure! Ill take the vacuum.
A : Thank you.

Commissives
Commit

a speaker to some future voluntary

action. Commissives reveal the intention of
the speaker. Commissives refer to vows,
threats, pledges, guarantees, contracts,
promises, covenants, and oaths. An offer is
also a commissive but it only commits the
speaker to some action upon the condition
of the offer being accepted.
Examples:
"I now covenant with thee"
" I promise to exercise every day

Commissives
Direct

"I solemnly swear to tell the truth

" I'll be there at 10 o'clock
"I'll give you 5 dollars for the watch"
Indirect

A : Your room is a mess

B : I have so many things to do right. This room will be
clean at the end of this week.
A : Ill mark your words.
Context
B promises to clean the room after finishing all his other
works. The bold sentence is considered as commisive
speech act because the respond from A shows that B have
to commit to do future action as a result of what he said.

Expressive
Itreveals

the speaker's attitudes and

emotions towards a particular proposition.
Expressives include thanking, apologizing,
congratulating, and welcoming.
Examples:

"Thank you for giving me the money

"congratulations on marrying a libertarian
" I apologize for stepping on your face".
Other types of expressives use the subjunctive
or optative mood such as
"would that the politicians were more righteous"
"if only it rained more often."

Direct

A : I just won the speech contest last month.

B : Congratulation! Youre amazing.
A : Thank you
Indirect

A : I have to apologize for accidently deleting our group

project files
B : Congratulation! You just help us failing this subject.
A : Wow, thank you. Its not like I want this to happen.
Context:
The intention of B in saying congratulation is to express
his disappointment of As action. As the reply, A says
thank you to protest Bs statement. Therefore, the word
thank you, in this case, doesnt express gratitude.

Declarations
Declarationsare

the most interesting type of speech

act.
Declarations are utterances that change the world by
representing it as being so changed.
It should be said by someone who has the capacity.
Most of the time, declarations speech act is direct,
since it has to be clear and understood well by the
hearers.
A rough test to see if something is a declaration is if you
can add the word "hereby" in front of it as in "I hereby
declare war on your country."
Examples of declarations include
"the meeting is adjourned
"I now pronounce you husband and wife
"This note is legal tender for all debts public and private".