Speech acting acting in speech

There are cases when the hearer fails to recognize the speakers intentions and he therefore
wrongly interprets the speakers utterance. This misunderstanding may lead to funny situations
and hence it is often an unfailing source for various jokes.
This picture suggests that the speaker (the man in this case) has uttered a question asking how the
womans day was. The context and other circumstances are not specified, but lets suppose that
their conversation takes place somewhere in the office and that they are colleagues. The man
obviously meant his question just as a polite conventional formula with a rather phatic function
(speech used to share feelings or to establish a mood of sociability rather than to communicate
information or ideas), not wanting to know any other details. The woman takes him aback a bit
since she starts giving him a lot of unsolicited information. She obviously did not catch the
intentions behind his words and therefore the man, surprised at her extensive answer, carefully
reminds her that she was only supposed to say Fine. The communication is uncomfortable for
him. The illocutionary act he uttered was not recognized by the woman.
The question we should logically ask is Why?.
Men and women happen to have different interactional styles and misunderstandings occur
because they are not aware of them.
She even compares the differences in the way men and women talk to already discussed crosscultural differences. And thus it is possible to see this example as an analogy to that FrenchAmerican interpretation of the Mais vous ne comperenez pas! case. The woman is as if from
different cultural milieu and she therefore misinterprets the mans question.
Speakers can perform actions while making utterances
Situation: At work, boss has great deal of power.
You're fired more than just a statement, actually ends your employment
Other examples:
You're so fantastic (compliment)
You're welcome (acknowledgement of thanks)
You're not serious! Thats not true! (expression of surprise)
Conversation analysis
Summons--answer
A: Can I get some help here?
Offer--refusal
Sales clerk: May I help you find something?
Compliment--acceptance
A: Your hair looks very lovely today.

B: On my way.
Customer: No thank you, I'm just looking.
B: Thank you. I just had it cut.

Listening is one of the subjects studied in the discipline of conversation analysis.

It does not mean simply maintaining a polite silence while you are rehearsing in your mind the
speech you are going to make the next time you can grab a conversational opening. Nor does
listening mean waiting alertly for the flaws in the other fellows argument so that later you can
mow him down. Listening means trying to see the problem the way the speaker sees it which
means not sympathy, which is feeling for him, but empathy, which is experiencing with him.
Listening requires entering actively and imaginatively into the other fellows situation and trying
to understand a frame of reference different from your own. This is not always an easy task.

But a good listener does not merely remain silent. He asks questions. However, these questions
must avoid all implications (whether in tone of voice or in wording) of skepticism or challenge or
hostility. They must clearly be motivated by curiosity about the speakers views.
(S.I. Hayakawa, How to Attend a Conference. The Use and Misuse of Language, ed. by S.I.
Hayakawa. Fawcett Premier, 1962)
A speech event is an activity in which participants interact via language in some
conventional way to arrive at some outcome.
- may include one obvious central speech act
- may include other utterances leading up to and subsequently reacting to that central action
A: Oh, Mary, Im glad youre here.
B: Whats up?
A: I can't get my computer to work. the request is the whole speech event,
B: Is it broken? not a single speech act.
A: I dont think so.
B: Whats it doing? no actual request is made
A: I dont know. Im useless with computers.
B: What kind is it?
A: Its a Mac. Do you use them?
B: Yeah.
A: Do you have a minute?
B: Sure.
A: Oh, great
- the question Do you have a minute? could be characterized as a pre-request, allowing the
hearer to say that shes busy or that she has to be somewhere else.
- the response Sure is taken to be an acknowledgement not only of having time available, but a
willingness to perform the unstated action.
We use the term speech act to describe actions such as requesting, commanding,
questioning, or informing. We can define a speech act as the action performed by a speaker
with an utterance. If you say, Ill be there at six, you are not just speaking, you seem to be
performing the speech act of promising.
When an interrogative structure such as Did you . . .? Are they . . .? or Can we . . .? is used with
the function of a question, it is described as a direct speech act. For example, when we dont
know something and we ask someone to provide the information, we usually produce a direct
speech act such as Can you ride a bicycle?
Compare that utterance with Can you pass the salt? [Here] we are not really asking a question
about someones ability. In fact, we dont normally use this structure as a question at all. . . . This
is an example of an indirect speech act.
(G. Yule, The Study of Language. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2006)
Several categories of speech acts have been proposed, viz. directives (speakers try to get
their listeners to do something, e.g. begging, commanding, requesting), commissives (speakers
commit themselves to a future course of action, e.g. promising, guaranteeing), expressives
(speakers express their feelings, e.g. apologizing, welcoming, sympathizing), declarations (the
speakers utterance brings about a new external situation, e.g. christening, marrying, resigning) . .
..
(D. Crystal, Dictionary of Linguistics. Blackwell, 1997)

The speaker normally expects that his or her communicative intention will be recognized by the
hearer both speaker and hearer are helped by the circumstances surrounding the utterance.
These circumstances (including other utterances) are called the speech event.
The tea is really cold!
Situation A: On a wintry day, the speaker reaches for a cup of tea, believing that it has been
freshly made, takes a sip, and produces the utterance complaint
Situation B: On a really hot summers day the speaker is being given a glass of iced tea, takes a
sip, and produces the utterance praise
No simple utterance-to-action correspondence is possible!!!
Classification
declarations: - speech acts that change the world via their utterance
- the speaker has to have a special institutional role, in a specific situation
Priest: I now pronounce you husband and wife
Referee: Youre out
Jury Foreman: We find the defendant guilty
the speaker changes the world via words
representatives:- speech acts that state what the speaker believes to be the case or not
- statements of fact, assertions, conclusions and descriptions are all examples of the speaker
representing the world as he/she believes it is
The earth is flat
Chomsky didnt write about peanuts
It was a warm sunny day
the speaker makes words fit the world (of belief)
expressives: - speech acts that state what the speaker feels
- they express psychological states and can be statements of pleasure, pain, likes, dislikes, joy,
sorrow ...
Im really sorry
Congratulations!
Oh yes, great, mmmmm!!
the speaker makes words fit the world (of feeling)
directives: 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 can
be positive or negative
Gimme a cup of coffee. Make it black
Could you lend me a pen, please?
Dont touch that
the speaker attempts to make the world fit the words via the hearer
commissives: speech acts that speaker 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 as a member of a group
Ill be back
Im going to get it right next time
We will not do that
the speaker undertakes to make the world fit the words via the speaker
Summary
Speech act type
Declarations
Representatives

Direction of fit
words change the world
make words fit the world

Form (S = speaker, X = situation)

S causes X
S believes X

Expressives
Directives
Commissives

make words fit the world

make the world fit words
make the world fit words

S feels X
S wants X
S intends X

Direct and Indirect speech acts

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.
Could you pass the salt?
Would you open this?
Indirect speech acts are generally associated with greater politeness than direct speech acts.
The door is there.
This simple declarative sentence (6) in the form of statement can be interpreted in at least two
ways. It can be either understood literally as a reply to the question Where is the way out? or
possibly Where is the door? or it can be taken as an indirect request to ask somebody to leave.
The sentence has thus two illocutionary forces which, even if they are different, have a common
proposition (content). The former case is called a direct speech act, the latter an indirect speech
act. It depends on the speaker and on the contextual situation which one he will choose to convey
in his speech.
Exercises
1) Classify the following speech acts
1 Ill make him an offer he cant refuse (Mario Puzo) commissive
2 I baptize this baby John declarative
3 Better remain silent and be thought a fool, than open your mouth and remove all possible
doubt (Chinese proverb)
directive
4 If Id known I was gonna live that long, Id have taken better care of myself (Eubie Blake)
expressive
5 I came, I saw, I conquered (Julius Caesar)
2) Many English verbs can be used to perform several different speech acts.
For each of the following verbs, determine the different speech acts each expresses. Note any
special appropriateness conditions which apply.
agree - grant - urge - curse - swear - applaud - conclude - guarantee adopt
Choose two illocutionary acts and give three different locutions which would express each act.
Congratulate - request - apologize - warn - thank.
Read the following utterances and then
(i)
Specify two possible illocutionary forces for each.
(ii)
Provide a situation for each illocution
(a) Is this your coat on the floor?
(b) I cant hear a word.
(c) Ill tell your father.
(d) I had a flat tyre
(e) It is seven oclock
(f) It is getting quite late.
(g) It is raining outside.
For each of the utterances below
1) name the speech act performed
2) describe two of its felicity conditions

3) decide whether the speech act is direct or indirect and explain in terms of
sentence structure
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)

Can you make your bed?

Have a safe journey.
Where do you live?
I wonder what happened to Mary.
I hear there's a fire in the next building.
Enjoy yourself
Can you people at the back hear me?
Is this the new dress you bought yesterday for 5000 SR?
Where is your book?

For each of the following utterance name the speech act performed. Describe two of its felicity
conditions.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)

Wheres the book?

I promise Ill come tonight.
I name this ship the queen Elizabeth.
Dont smoke.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx2IsEi4DxY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_9hm-N3KDM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsUUKzUkpcw