CONTENTS

Introduction....................3
Chapter 1: Speech Act Theory...................5
Chapter 2: Indirect Speech Acts in English........................10
Conclusion....................15
References.....................17

INTRODUCTION
Language is an inseparable part of our everyday lives. It is the main tool used to
transmit messages, to communicate ideas, thoughts and opinions. It situates us in the
society we live in; it is a social affair which creates and further determines our position in
all kinds of various social networks and institutions. In certain circumstances we are
literally dependent on its appropriate usage and there are moments when we need to be
understood quite correctly. Language is involved in nearly all fields of human activity
and maybe that is why language and linguistic communication have become a widely
discussed topic among linguists, lawyers, psychologists and philosophers.
Basically, we have carried out the present paper based on the works of J. R. Searle,
J. L. Austin, P. W. Culicover, S. C. Levinson, G. U. Yule.
The problem of speech acts was pioneered by another American language
philosopher J.L. Austin. His observations were delivered at Harvard University in 1955
as the William James Lectures which were posthumously published in his famous book
How to Do Things with Words. It is Austin who introduces basic terms and areas to
study and distinguishes locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts.
In general, speech acts are acts of communication. To communicate is to express a
certain attitude, and the type of speech act that is performed corresponds to the type of
attitude being expressed. For example, a statement expresses a belief, a request
expresses a desire, and an apology expresses regret. As an act of communication, a
speech act succeeds if the hearer identifies, in accordance with the speakers intention,
the attitude being expressed.
In indirect speech acts the speaker communicates to the hearer more than he
actually says by way of relying on their mutual shared background information, together
with the general powers of rationality and inference on the part of the hearer.
Imperatives can function as indirect speech acts performing advice, offer, suggestion,
invitation, gratitude, warning, threat, resentment, persuasion, prohibition. These well
observe in the following paper.
In accordance with the tasks and goals, the present paper consists of introduction,
two chapters, conclusion and references.
3

Chapter 1 (Speech Act Theory) deals with the discussion of the three related acts
locutionary, illocutionary, perlocutionary. It is worth mentioning, that the classification
of speech acts varies from linguist to linguist.
Chapter 2 (Indirect Speech Acts in English) is concerned with the discussion of
indirect speech acts and reveals the cases when imperative sentences function as indirect
speech acts.
Conclusion sums up the results of our analysis.
Referances lists all the used sources.

CHAPTER 1
SPEECH ACT THEORY
4

This opening chapter is concerned with the study of the theory of speech acts in
Modern English.
It is believed that pragmatics is concerned with how people use language within a
context, in real-life situations. While semantics was concerned with words, phrases and
sentences, the unit of analysis in pragmatics is the utterance. In pragmatics we study how
factors such as time, place and the social relationship between speaker and hearer affect the
ways in which language is used to perform different functions. Language is action, in the
words of J. L. Austin, and much of the interaction between human beings is based on verbal
action, for example when we request, promise, swear, apologize etc. Pragmatics is primarily
based on the theory of speech acts. According to an American language philosopher J.R.
Searle speaking a language is performing speech acts, acts such as making statements,
giving commands, asking questions or making promises. Searle states that all linguistic
communication involves linguistic (speech) acts. In other words, speech acts are the basic or
minimal units of linguistic communication.
Let us start by considering the fact that speech act theory is built on the foundation laid
by Austin, Searle and Wittgenstein. John Searle is most often associated with the theory.
Ludwig Wittgenstein began a line of thought called ordinary language philosophy. He
taught that the meaning of language depends on its actual use. Language, as used in ordinary
life, is a language game because it consists of rules. In other words, people follow rules to do
things with the language.
According to Searle, to understand language one must understand the speakers
intention. Since language is intentional behavior, it should be treated like a form of action.
Thus, Searle refers to statements as speech acts. The speech act is based unit of language
used to express meaning, an utterance that expresses an intention (Searle 1969).
Many utterances (things people say) are equivalent to actions. When someone says: I
name this ship or I now pronounce you man and wife, the utterance creates a new social
or psychological reality. Speech act theory broadly explains these utterances as having three
parts or aspects: locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts.
The locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts are, in fact, three basic
components with the help of which a speech act is formed. Leech (Leech 1983: 199) briefly
defines them as:
locutionary act: performing an act of saying something
illocutionary act: performing an act in saying something
perlocutionary act: performing an act by saying something
5

Locutionary act is the basic act of utterance, or producing meaningful linguistic

expression. The locutionary act can be viewed as a mere uttering of some words in certain
language, while the illocutionary and perlocutionary acts convey a more complicated
message for the hearer. An illocutionary act communicates the speakers intentions behind
the locution and a perlocutionary act reveals the effect the speaker wants to exercise over
the hearer.
This can be demonstrated on a simple example:
Would you close the door, please?
The surface form, and also the locutionary act, of this utterance is a question with a
clear content (Close the door.) The illocutionary act conveys a request from the part of the
speaker and the perlocutionary act expresses the speakers desire that the hearer should go
and close the door.
John: "Darling, do you want to go out to the show tonight?"
Laura: "I'm feeling ill."
John: "That's ok. You stay there and I'll make soup."
Special attention should be paid to how Laura didn't respond to John's question by
saying, "No, I don't want to go out to the show tonight." What she actually said
her locutionary act was "I'm feeling ill."
An illocutionary act is what a person does in saying something else. Locution is
speech. In-locution (in speaking) becomes il-locution through phonetic assimilation. In
saying that she feels ill, Laura was telling John that she doesn't want go out.
Beyond communicating the state of her health and the answer to John's question, Laura
accomplished one more thing through saying "I'm feeling ill." She got John to make her
some soup.
A perlocutionary act is focused on the response others have to a speech act.
We dont simply create an utterance with a function without intending it to have an
effect. Basic concept of Speech Act Theory is Saying is part of doing or : Words are
6

connected to actions. Oxford philosopher J. L. Austin is foremost attributed to developing

the theory. Austin formulated his ideas on speech act theory in the 1930s and lectured on
them at both Oxford and Harvard in the first half of the 1950s. After Austins death one of
his former students, John r. Searle, took many of Austins ideas and concepts on speech act
theory and further elaborated and refined them. One general classification system lists five
types of general functions performed by speech acts: Declarations, representatives,
expressive, directives and commisives.( Searle 1976:30, Yule 2008:48, Levinson 1983)
One general classification system lists five types of general functions performed by
speech acts - declarations, representatives, expressives, directives, and commissives (Searle
1976: 1-15, Yule 2008:53, Levinson 1983:240).
Declarations are those kinds of speech acts that change the world via their utterance
and via words (Yule 2008). They effect immediate changes in the institutional state of
affairs and tend to rely on elaborate extra-linguistic institutions (declaring war, firing
from employment) (Levinson 1983: 240). The given examples below illustrate, the
speaker has to have a special institutional role, in a specific context, in order to
perform a declaration appropriately:
a. Priest: I now pronounce you husband and wife.
b. Referee: Youre out!
c. Jury Foreman: We find the defendant guilty.
Representatives are those kinds of speech acts that state what the speaker believes to
be the state or not. Statements of fact, assertions, conclusions, and descriptions are all
examples of the speaker representing the world as he or she believes it is.
a. The earth is flat.
b. Chomsky didnt write about peanuts.
c. It was a warm sunny day.
In these examples is illustrated the above mentioned.
Expressives are those kinds of speech acts that state what the speaker feels. They
express psychological states and can be statements of pleasure, pain, likes, dislikes,
joy or sorrow, complimenting, congratulating, thanking, welcoming. As illustrated in
7

the examples below, they can be caused by something the speaker does or the hearer
does, but they are about the speakers experience (Yule 2008: 53).
a. Im really sorry.
b. Congratulations!
c. Oh, yes, great, mmmm, ssahh!
Directives are those kinds of speech acts that speakers use to get someone else to do
something. They express what the speaker wants. They are commands, orders,
requests, suggestions, and they can be positive or negative, as illustrated in these
examples:
a. Give me a cup of coffee. Make it black.
b. Could you lend me a pen, please?
c. Dont touch that.

Commissives are those kinds of speech acts that speakers use to commit themselves to
some future action. They express what the speaker intends. They are promises, threats,
refusals, pledges. They can be performed by the speaker alone, or by the speaker as a
member of a group, e. g. Ill be back, Im going to get it right next time, we will
not do that.
So, in using declaration, the speaker changes the world via words, in using
representatives, the speaker makes words fit the world (of believe), in using expressive, the
speaker makes words fit the world (of feeling), in using a declarative, the speaker attempts to
make the world fit the words (via the hearer), and in using a commissive, the speaker
undertakes to make the world fit the words (via the speaker).
Speech acts cannot be fully understood without considering the hearers as well as the
speakers (Clark & Carlson 1982:337) Speech acts are directed are directed at real people,
whose abilities to recognize put limits on what speakers can do with their utterances. There
are direct speech acts as well as indirect ones. Misapplication of the indirectness principle
can lead to communication disruption.
The problem posed by indirect speech acts is the problem of how it is possible for the
speaker to say one thing and mean that but also to mean something else. And since meaning
8

consists in part in the intention to produce understanding in the hearer, a large part of that
problem is that of how it is possible for the hearer to understand the indirect speech act when
the sentence he hears and understands means something else. The problem is made more
complicated by he fact that some sentences seem almost to be conventionally used as
indirect requests. For a sentence like Can you reach the salt, or I would appreciate it if
you would get off my foot, it takes some ingenuity to imagine a situation in which their
utterances would not be requests.
A different approach to distinguishing types of speech acts can be made on the basis of
structure. A fairly simple structural distinction between three general types of speech acts is
provided, in English, by the three basic sentence types. There is an esay recognized,
relationship between the three structural forms (declarative, interrogative, imperative) and
the three general communicative functions (statement, question, command/request). You
wear a seat belt (declarative), Do you wear a seat belt? (interrogative), Wear a seat
belt! (imperative), (G. Yule 2008:54).
Thus, we revealed that there are five types of general functions performed by speech
acts, namely declaratives, representatives, expressives, directives and commisseves.

CHAPTER 2
INDIRECT SPEECH ACTS IN ENGLISH
9

Indirectness is a widely used conversational strategy. People tend to use indirect speech
acts mainly in connection with politeness (Leech 1983: 108) since they diminish the
unpleasant message contained in requests and orders, for instance,
Its very hot in here
In this example the speaker explains or even excuses the reason why he makes a
request (Open the window!). People use indirectness, because sometimes direct addresses
may even appear impolite as in Would you lend me some money? and Lend me some
money! The latter variant would be absolutely unacceptable in some contexts
However, politeness is not the only motivation for indirectness. People also use indirect
strategies when they want to make their speech more interesting, when they want to reach
goals different from their partners or when they want to increase the force of the message
communicated (Thomas 1995: 143).
A different approach to distinguishing types of speech acts can be made on the basis of
structure. A fairly simple structural distinction between three general types of speech acts is
provided, in English, by the three basic sentence types. There is an easily recognized
relationship between the three structural forms (declarative, interrogative, imperative) and
the three general communicative functions (statement, question, command/request). You
wear a seat belt (declarative), do you wear a seat belt? (interrogative), Wear a seat
belt! (imperative) (Yule 2008:55).
Different structures can be used to accomplish the same basic function, as in the
examples below, where the speaker wants the addressee not to stand in front of the TV.
a. Move out of the way!
b. Do you have to stay in front of the TV?
c. Youre standing in front of the TV.
d. Youd make a better door that a window.
The basic function of all the utterances in these examples is a command/request, but
only the imperative structure in the first example represent a direct speech act. The
interrogative structure in the second example is not being used only as a question, hence it is
an indirect speech act. The declarative structures in the last two sentences are also indirect
requests.
10

One of the most common types of indirect speech act in English has the form of an
interrogative, but is not typically used to ask a question (i.e. we dont expect only an answer,
we expect action).
a. Could you pass the salt?
b. Would you open this?
These examples are normally understood as requests.
Indeed, there is a typical pattern in English whereby asking a question about the
hearers assumed ability (Can you?, Could you?) or future likelihood with regard to
doing something (will you?, Would you?) normally counts as a request to actually do that
something.
Indirect speech acts are generally associated with greater politeness in English that
direct speech acts. In order to understand why, we have to look at a bigger picture than just a
single utterance performing a single speech act.
In the theory of speech acts Searle has introduced the notion of an indirect speech act.
In indirect speech acts the speaker communicates to the hearer more than he actually says by
way of relying on their mutual shared background information, together with the general
powers of rationality and inference on the part of the hearer (Searle 1976).
Imperatives can function as indirect speech acts performing advice, offer, suggestion,
invitation, gratitude, warning, threat, resentment, persuasion, prohibition. Its worth
mentioning that proverbs and sayings provide an ample amount of negative imperatives,
which serve as the most direct and impressive means of expressing folk wisdom and
experience, such as Dont wash your dirty linen in public, Dont put your eggs in one
basket, Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
To change from direct speech to indirect speech of imperative constructions also has
certain consequences. As it was mentioned imperatives can function as indirect speech acts
performing advice, offer, suggestion, invitation, gratitude, warning, threat, resentment,
persuasion, prohibition. We will view examples of the above mentioned separately to get a
clearer picture of them:
1. Advice
a. Relax, Mom. Theyll find us. (Ellen Schwamm,How he saved her, p. 9)
11

b. Dont talk to strangers. (Cynthia Voigt, Homecoming, p. 121)

c. Dont worry, well be all right, as long as were together. (Cynthia Voigt,
Homecoming, p. 223)
d. Be diligent, try to like it, my dear boy work for a steady independence, and
be happy. (Cynthia Voigt, Homecoming, p. 71)
In the first example [a], the characters were waiting for grandpa and grandma,
and they werent sure whether they knew the way to their house, Mother was worrying, but
the daughter was calming her Mom, advising her not to worry, because she had already seen
them, and they were headed right that way.
In [b], the speaker sends a child to a grocer, but, as the street was unknown to the child,
Dicey (the speaker) advised the child not to speak to strangers, in order not to be hurt.
In [c], as the characters of Himecoming were lost and couldnt find the way back to
home, one of them was calming his friend and advising not worry, as he was sure everything
would be all right, and they could overcome any difficulty together.
In [d], the boy got a new job, which he didnt like and didnt want to go and work, but
his mother wanted to encourage and inspire his son advising the following: Be diligent, try
to like it, my dear boy work for a steady independence, and be happy.
2. Offer/ Suggestion/invitation
a. Come and have breakfast, mate, he said. (Maugham, p.165)
b. Sit down and lets talk, shall we? (Ellen Schwamm, How he saved her, p.
116)
c. Take your overcoat off and put your hat down and then youll feel much
better. (Priestly, p. 265)
d. Welcome, Maudie said, opening the door. (Ellen Schwamm, How he saved
her, p. 182)
e. Come to lunch some day, he suggested, as we groaned down in the elevator.
(Fitzgerald, 41)
3. Gratitude
a. Thank you for saying that, darling, she said and pressed her lipsto his forehead
one last time. (Ellen Schwamm, How he saved her, p. 28)
4. Warning
12

a. Careful of the wall on your right side, Nora. (Ellen Schwamm, How he saved
her, p.122)
b. Be careful, Nora. Annihilate desire and you annihilate the mind. (Ellen
Schwamm, How he saved her, p.241)
c. Watch it! Youre going off the road! (Sheldon, p. 304)
In [a] Nora was being warned to be careful of the wall on her right side, as the wall
was ramshackled and it was going tocollapse, as she was walking near the wall.
5. Threat
a. Come! Try! I must really scold you if you dont! (Ch. Dickens, Dombey and
Son, p.36)
6. Resentment
a. Shut up, Louise said, Move it, Edie. They slipped away into the darkness.
(Cynthia Voigt, Homecoming, p.70)
b. Dont vex me, said Good Mrs. Brown. (Ch. Dickens, Dombey and Son, p.108)
c. Listen to her! Listen to how she spits on her mothers grey hair! (Shew, p.255)
7. Persuasion
a. Come on, Pa. Take your turn. No shirking. Take your turn, Pa. Show us a conjuring
trick. (Priestley, 236)
b. Only sign this receipt, he explained. You ought to count it first to see iff its all
right. (Priestley, 265)
We are to state that persuasive or insistent imperatives can also be created by the
auxiliary do, which makes the wish or offer more emphatic.
1. Oh, do come in and sit down a minute, Susan, please, said Polly. (Ch.
Dickens, Dombey and Son, p.102)
2. Do untie your bonnet-strings and make yourself at home, Miss Nipper,
please, entreated Jemina. (Ch. Dickens, Dombey and Son, p.102)
8. Prohibition
It should be noted that prohibition is often expressed by the negative form of the verb,
though it may be expressed by the affirmative form as well.
13

a. Dont move until you hear me leave. (Ellen Schwamm, How he saved her, 52)
b. Dont wake the children, Susan dear, said Polly. (Ch. Dickens, Dombey and
Son,85)
c. All right, she cried exasperated. Never mind. Just stop pestering me. I dont care
what you do, but let me get on with my work. (54)
d. Stop arguing, James! (Cynthia Voigt, Homecoming,231)
It can be inferred from the examples above that when prohibition is expressed by the
affirmative form of the verb, the notional verb stop is mainly used.
Its worth mentioning that proverbs and sayings provide an ample amount of negative
imperatives, which serve as the most direct and impressive means of expressing folk wisdom
and experience, such as Dont wash your dirty linen in public, Dont put your eggs in one
basket, Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
To sum up, we can infer that imperative sentences vary both in structure and the role
they play in performing speech acts. Besides their direct functions to give an order or make a
request, they perform a number of indirect speech acts, which include advice, offer,
invitations, surprise, disbelief, annoyance, regret, resentment, persuasion, etc. Negative
imperatives imply some additional meanings, besides expressing prohibition.

CONCLUSION
Summing up the results of our analysis of the previous two chapters we come to the
following conclusion:
14

1.

Three basic components with the help of which a speech act is formed are the
locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts. The locutionary act can be viewed
as a mere uttering of some words in certain language, while the illocutionary and
perlocutionary acts convey a more complicated

message for the hearer. An

illocutionary act communicates the speakers intentions behind the locution and a
perlocutionary act reveals the effect the speaker wants to exercise over the hearer.
2. Speech acts are acts of communication. To communicate is to express a certain
attitude, and the type of speech act that is performed corresponds to the type of
attitude being expressed, as has been found out, a statement expresses a belief, a
request expresses a desire, and an apology expresses regret. As an act of
communication, a speech act succeeds if the hearer identifies, in accordance with the
speakers intention, the attitude being expressed.
3. We have also observed general classification system lists 5 types of general functions
performed by speech acts declarations, representatives, expressive, directives and
commissives.
In using declaration, the speaker changes the world via words, in using representatives,
the speaker makes words fit the world (of believe), in using expressive, the speaker makes
words fit the world (of feeling), in using a declarative, the speaker attempts to make the
world fit the words (via the hearer), and in using a commissive, the speaker undertakes to
make the world fit the words (via the speaker).
A different approach to distinguishing types of speech acts can be made on the basis of
structure. A fairly simple structural distinction between three general types of speech acts is
provided, in English, by the three basic sentence types. There is an easily recognized
relationship between the three structural forms (declarative, interrogative, imperative) and
the three general communicative functions (statement, question, command/request).
4. Whenever there is a direct relationship between a structure and a function, we have a
direct speech act. Whenever there is an indirect relationship between a structure and a
function, we have an indirect speech act.

15

5. An imperative sentence is generally used to give an order. We have found out that
sometimes subjects of imperative sentences are underlined as the understood you. This
kind of commands usually expresses insistence, irritation or annoyance.
6. It should also be noted that when an imperative sentence is used as a way of
expressing request, it toned down by markers of politeness such as please.
7. In indirect speech acts the speaker communicates to the hearer more that he actually
says by way of relying on their mutual shared background information. Imperatives
can function as indirect speech acts performing advice, offer, suggestion, invitation,
gratitude, warning, threat, resentment, persuasion, prohibition.
8. We can infer that imperative sentences vary both in structure and the role they play in
performing speech acts. Besides their direct functions to give an order or make a
request, they perform a number of indirect speech acts, which include advice, offer,
invitations, surprise, disbelief, annoyance, regret, resentment, persuasion.
Negative imperatives imply some additional meanings, besides expressing prohibition.

REFERENCES
1. Austin J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. London: Oxford University Press
2. Leech & Geoffrey. (1983). Principles of Pragmatics. New York: Longman Singapore
Publishing
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3. Levinson & Stephen C. (1983). Pragmatics. Cambridge: Press Syndicate of the University
of Cambridge
4. Yule & Brown G. (1983). Discourse Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. Yule G. (1998). Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. Yule G., Series Editor Widdowson H. G. (2008). Pragmatics. Oxford University Press
7. Searle J. R. (1976). Speech Acts. London: Syndics of the Cambridge University Press
8.
Searle J. R. (1979). Expression and meaning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9.
Searle J R. (1969). Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge
University Press

FICTION
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Fitzgerald F. S. (1973). The Great Gatsbay. Kiev: Dnipro Publishers

Maugham W.S. (1974). The Moon and Sixpence. London: William Heinmann Ltd.
Prestley J.B (1974). Angel Pavement. Moscow: Progress Publishers
Scheldon S. (1980). Rage of Angels. London: William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd.
Shaw B. (1967). Mrs. Warrens Profession.- Six Great Modern Plays.New York: Dell
Publishing Co., Inc.
6. Thomas J. (1995). Meaning in Interaction, an Introduction of Pragmatics, Longman

URLs
10. http://193.6.132.75/pragmatik/searle-ind-eng.pdf
11. http://grammar.about.com/od/rs/g/speechactterm.htm
12. http://linguisticszone.blogspot.com/2007/07/indirect-speech-acts-ans-violating.html
13. http://acl.ldc.upenn.edu/J/J80/J80-3002/.pdf
14. www.jstor.org/stable/25001608
15. http://www.planetebook.com/ebooks/The-Great-Gatsby.pdf
16. http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~herb/1980s/Clark.Carlson.Hearers.sp.acts.82.pdf
17. http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/lang/pragmatics.pdf
18. http://www.ics.uci.edu/~pazzani/Publications/speechacts.pdf

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