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Linguistics & Grammar vocabulary · Semantics and Pragmatics

Speech act

Meaning in linguistics & grammar, with examples

/ˈspiːtʃ ækt/nounCommon term

In linguistics & grammar, speech act means: An utterance seen as an action, such as promising, apologizing, requesting, warning or thanking, rather than only as a way of giving information.

In Turkish: söz edimi, söz eylem

How it is used

From speech act theory, developed by J. L. Austin and John Searle. Linguists distinguish direct and indirect speech acts; 'Could you open the window?' is an indirect request. Teachers use the idea to teach functions like making suggestions.

Example sentences

  1. Apologizing is a speech act that varies a lot across cultures.

  2. 'I promise I'll be there' does not describe a promise; the speech act itself is the promise.

Common collocations

  • indirect speech act
  • direct speech act
  • speech act theory
  • perform a speech act
  • pragmaticsThe study of how context affects meaning: how speakers mean more than they actually say, and how listeners work out intended meanings, politeness and hints.
  • implicatureMeaning that a speaker suggests without saying it directly and that a listener works out from context, as when 'Some students passed' suggests that not all of them did.
  • contextThe situation, surrounding text and shared knowledge in which something is said or written, which help listeners and readers understand the intended meaning.
  • discourseLanguage in use beyond the single sentence, such as conversations, lectures or newspaper articles, and the way these stretches of language are organized and connected.

More terms: Semantics and Pragmatics

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