speech act theory

speech act theory

Speech act theory, proposed by John Austin, is an important theory in the pragmatic study of language. It aims to answer the question "What do we do when using language?" Austin suggested a speaker might be performing three acts simultaneously when speaking: locutionary act, illocutionary act, and perlocutionary act. The speech act theory provided great philosophical insight into the nature of linguistic communication. (6P₁₁₅)