Speech act is a technical term in linguistics and the philosophy of language. The contemporary use of the term goes back to J. L. Austin's discovery of performative utterances and his theory of locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts. Speech acts are commonly taken to include such acts as promising, ordering, greeting, warning, inviting and congratulating.
Read more about Speech Act: Locutionary, Illocutionary and Perlocutionary Acts, Illocutionary Acts, Indirect Speech Acts, History, In Language Development, In Computer Science
Famous quotes containing the words speech and/or act:
“I thought my razor was dull until I heard his speech and that reminds me of a story that’s so dirty I’m ashamed to think of it myself.”
—S.J. Perelman, U.S. screenwriter, Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, and Norman Z. McLeod. Groucho Marx, Horsefeathers, as a newly-appointed college president commenting on the remarks of Huxley College’s outgoing president (1932)
“When a uniform exercise of kindness to prisoners on our part has been returned by as uniform severity on the part of our enemies, you must excuse me for saying it is high time, by other lessons, to teach respect to the dictates of humanity; in such a case, retaliation becomes an act of benevolence.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)