Speech Act/
Speech Event

Ardita Dylgjeri, University of Elbasan "Aleksandër Xhuvani", Albania
ardita.dylgjeri@uniel.edu.al

Speech Acts are goal-directed actions performed with words in interpersonal communication, defined primarily with reference to the speaker's intentions and the effects on the listener(s). Whereas, a speech event is an occasion on which a speech is made, especially a formal or public one. It can also refer to the act or process of speaking, especially in a formal or public setting. Speech events are typically goal-oriented, interactive, and shaped by the social and cultural context in which they occur.

Referring to Austin, Speech acts are utterances which perform various social functions such as requesting, greeting, advising, complaining, warning, and so on (see also Speech Act Theory). Austin classified three types of speech act: 1. Locutionary act – the actual utterance and its ostensible meaning; 2. Illocutionary act – the real meaning that the speaker intended; 3. Perlocutionary act – the actual effect of the speech act, whether it was intended by the speaker or not.

Searle classified illocutionary speech acts into the following taxonomy: 1. Assertives – acts that commit the speaker to the truth of a proposition; 2. Directives – acts that cause the hearer to do something; 3. Commissives – acts that commit the speaker to do something in the future; 4. Expressives – acts that express the speaker’s feelings towards something; 5. Declarations – acts that change reality (such as baptising, pronouncing someone guilty, etc.)

Speech act theory has been influential in a wide range of fields, including linguistics, philosophy, communication studies, and law. It has also been used to develop new approaches to understanding social interaction and human behaviour.

Keywords: illocutionary, locutionary, perlocutionary

References:
Austin J., L. (1962). How to do things with words. The William James lectures delivered at Harvard University in 1955. Oxford University Press.
Searle, J. R., (1969). Speech acts: An essay in the philosophy of language. Cambridge University Press.
Searle, J. R., (1975). A taxonomy of illocutionary acts. University of Minnesota Press.