Speech Act Theory Essay

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Considered to be the most influential, Jakobson and Hymes' theory has always been used as the basis for future theories on the functions of language. Whilst linguists have sought to understand how, as speakers, people are able to produce an infinite number of sentences out of a finite set of rules, philosophers have tried to explain how an infinite number of sentences may reflect a finite set of functions. These theories based on language in use belong to the field of pragmatics and the most relevant one on this issue is the so-called 'Speech Act Theory', a proposal by Austin and Searle. These philosophers argued that, since the number of things people do with words is limited, people should be able to assign different functions to different
On this concern, one general classification system lists five types of functions performed by speech acts: declarations, representatives, expressives, directives and commissives. Declarations are those kinds of speech acts through which the speaker changes the world via words, as in the case of a priest uttering "I now pronounce you husband and wife." As for representatives, they are those which state what the speaker believes to be the case or not. In using them, he/she makes words fit the world as in "the Earth is flat." In contrast, expressives are used to state what the speaker feels. They express psychological states and can be statements of pleasure, like, dislikes, joy or sorrow; as in "I'm really sorry!". Regarding directives, they are those acts that speakers use to get someone else (the hearer) to do something. They express what the speakers and are commands, orders, requests or suggestions. An example of a directive speech act would be the utterance "would you lend me a pen, please?". Lastly, commissives are those speech acts that speakers use to commit themselves to some future action. They express what the speaker intends, are promises, threats, refusals or pledges and can be performed by the speaker alone or by the speaker as a member of a group as in "we will never do

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