Locutionary Act
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In
linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
and the
philosophy of language Philosophy of language refers to the philosophical study of the nature of language. It investigates the relationship between language, language users, and the world. Investigations may include inquiry into the nature of Meaning (philosophy), me ...
, a locutionary act is the performance of an
utterance In spoken language analysis, an utterance is a continuous piece of speech, by one person, before or after which there is silence on the part of the person. In the case of oral language, spoken languages, it is generally, but not always, bounded ...
, and is one of the types of force, in addition to
illocutionary act The concept of illocutionary acts was introduced into linguistics by the philosopher J. L. Austin in his investigation of the various aspects of speech acts. In his framework, ''locution'' is what was said and meant, ''illocution'' is what was do ...
and
perlocutionary act A perlocutionary act (or perlocutionary effect) is the effect of an utterance on an interlocutor. Examples of perlocutionary acts include persuading, convincing, scaring, enlightening, inspiring, or otherwise affecting the interlocutor. The perloc ...
, typically cited in Speech Act Theory. Speech Act Theory is a subfield of
pragmatics In linguistics and the philosophy of language, pragmatics is the study of how Context (linguistics), context contributes to meaning. The field of study evaluates how human language is utilized in social interactions, as well as the relationship ...
that explores how words and sentences are not only used to present information, but also to perform actions. As an utterance, a locutionary act is considered a
performative In the philosophy of language and speech acts theory, performative utterances are sentences which not only describe a given reality, but also change the social reality they are describing. In a 1955 lecture series, later published as ''How to D ...
, in which both the audience and the speaker must trust certain conditions about the speech act. These conditions are called felicity conditions and are divided into three different categories: the essential condition, the sincerity condition, and the preparatory condition. The term equally refers to the surface meaning of an utterance because, according to J. L. Austin's posthumous ''
How To Do Things With Words John Langshaw Austin (26 March 1911 – 8 February 1960) was an English philosophy of language, philosopher of language and leading proponent of ordinary language philosophy, best known for developing the theory of speech acts. Austin pointe ...
'', a speech act should be analysed as a locutionary act (''i.e.'' the actual utterance and its ostensible meaning, comprising
phonetic Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds or, in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians ...
, phatic, and rhetic acts corresponding to the verbal,
syntactic In linguistics, syntax ( ) is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituency ...
, and
semantic Semantics is the study of linguistic Meaning (philosophy), meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction betwee ...
aspects of any meaningful utterance), as well as an
illocutionary act The concept of illocutionary acts was introduced into linguistics by the philosopher J. L. Austin in his investigation of the various aspects of speech acts. In his framework, ''locution'' is what was said and meant, ''illocution'' is what was do ...
(the semantic ' illocutionary force' of the utterance, thus its real, intended meaning), and in certain cases a further
perlocutionary act A perlocutionary act (or perlocutionary effect) is the effect of an utterance on an interlocutor. Examples of perlocutionary acts include persuading, convincing, scaring, enlightening, inspiring, or otherwise affecting the interlocutor. The perloc ...
(''i.e.'' its actual effect, whether intended or not).


Example

For example, the phrase "Don't do that!", a locutionary act with distinct phonetic, syntactic and semantic features, which corresponds to meaning, is an utterance serving as warning to the listener to not do the thing they are currently doing or about to do. Furthermore, the illocutionary act is implicitly describing what the speaker is doing even though the utterance is lacking a performative verb.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Locutionary Act Semantics Pragmatics Discourse analysis Statements