Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
SPEECH ACTS
INDEX
1)Introduction
2)Theoretical part
3)Practical part
4)Conclusion
5)Bibliography
~1~
1) Introduction
This essay describes different aspects of the speech acts which deserve to be
mentioned. These are: a) the correspondences of the clause types with the
speech acts; b) the illocutionary speech types; and d) the difference between a
direct and indirect speech act.
2) Theoretical part
[fixing an appointment]
A: You couldn’t make it twelve o´clock.
B: Yeah, twelve would be fine. (request)¨
According to Carter & McCarty(2006: 293; Huddleston & Pullum, (2005: 171;
see also URL 1)
~3~
¨Imperative clauses: their typical function is to give directives. These
commonly function as commands but other specific types of speech acts may
also be expressed by imperatives.
¨Exclamative clauses consists of phrases with what and how. They usually
express a reaction of surprise or shock or the experience of a strong impression
on the part of the speaker.
(See Carter & McCarty, (2006: 543-544 ) and Huddleston & Pullum ( 2005:
168-169)
3) Practical part
~4~
ILLOCUTIONARY SPEECH ACTS
(See URL 4)
-Expressives = speech acts that express what the speaker feels, e.g.
congratulations, excuses and thanks.
~5~
I apologize for what I did to you. (apology)
(See Huang (2007: 106-107) and Carter & McCarty (2006: 680)
The difference between a direct speech act and an indirect speech act will
be explained in the next section.
¨If there is a direct match between a sentence type and an illocutionary force,
we have a direct speech act.
One of the most common types of indirect speech acts in English has the form
of interrogative, which is not typically used to ask a question (we don't expect
only an answer, we expect an action).
Examples:
1) Can you pass the salt? “Interrogative is used to make a request >
indirect speech act
~6~
2) “Pass the salt! “ Imperative is used to make a request > direct speech
act ¨
(Huang, 2007: 110-111; see also URL 2)
4) Conclusion
The English grammar distinguishes four main clause types that are used to
perform different kinds of speech acts. The speech acts have a characteristic
correlation with clause types, but is not absolute. The illocutionary act is the
intention that we have in mind when we produce an utterance; there are direct
and indirect illocutionary acts.
Bibliography
~7~
URL 3 Speech act. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_act on
the 17th November 2011
~8~