ATLAS OF LANGUAGE

AT-PRA-0005 · ATLAS 260

Speech act

An action performed in speaking, such as promising, requesting, naming, warning, or declaring.

Part of the subject path Pragmatics and Conversation

Why is this entry in the Atlas?

A · Analytical concept R1 · Distinct contribution to understanding

Speech act makes utterances examinable as requests, promises or appointments rather than descriptions alone. It separates the action from sentence form and from effects actually achieved. This permits scrutiny of the linguistic and social conditions that support commitments or institutional changes.

Colours and admission grounds

The rectangular label identifies the entry function: F – linguistic figure or procedure; A – analytical concept; G – foundational concept; E – selected concrete case. The rounded badge indicates the admission ground: R1 – distinctive contribution; R2 – necessary foundation; R3 – justified illustrative case. This editorial rationale explains the current selection rather than claiming an undocumented original selection history.

Explanation

A speech act is an action performed by uttering something in a particular situation. Speech does not merely describe the world: people assert, ask, request, warn, promise, appoint, or apologise, thereby changing expectations, obligations, and social relations. The same sentence may carry different actions in different contexts; “There is a draught” can be a report, a warning, or an indirect request. Success depends not on wording alone but also on authority, sincerity, intelligibility, address, and institutional convention. Speech-act theory thus reveals an actional dimension of meaning whose consequences can be recognised, accepted, contested, or rejected by other participants.

Movement of thought

1. An utterance first appears as a sequence of words with propositional content. 2. The situation indicates which action is to be performed with that content. 3. Addressees recognise a request, assertion, promise, or another illocutionary claim. 4. Felicity conditions and response test whether the action occurred and what effects followed. 5. The utterance returns as a social deed that has altered rights, expectations, or relations.

Scientific use case

Pragmatic corpus analysis can separately annotate linguistic form, illocutionary function, sequential response, and institutional setting. Cross-cultural studies can compare direct and indirect realisations of requests or apologies.

Example

“I promise to send the report tomorrow” does not merely describe a future transmission. Under appropriate conditions, the speaker undertakes an obligation toward an addressee.

Counterexample

A parrot may repeat “I promise” without undertaking a promise. Likewise, an unauthorised person cannot appoint someone to office merely by using the appropriate formula; wording alone does not secure a successful speech act.

Distinction

Distinguish locutionary content, illocutionary act, and perlocutionary effect. A speech act is not identical with sentence type, and an intended consequence such as persuasion need not actually occur.

Effect on thought and perception

The concept shifts attention from statements about the world to actions performed with language, making their social conditions and consequences analysable.

Resonance

Spoken words enter relationships; their force arises where others hear the claim, answer it, accept its consequences, or resist it.

Cite this entry

Reich, Michael (Hrsg./ed.): „Speech act“. Atlas der Sprache, AT-PRA-0005. ATLAS 260, data model 1.6.0. https://atlasoflanguage.com/concept/AT-PRA-0005

https://atlasoflanguage.com/concept/AT-PRA-0005

The address remains stable; editorial content may evolve. Editorial reading state: 2026-10-15. Include your access date for precise references.

Historical background

In How to Do Things with Words (1962), Austin distinguishes what is done in speaking from the effects an utterance may have on another person’s thoughts, feelings, or actions. The inspected passages separate warning from actually alarming someone and arguing from successfully convincing them. This provides a historical point of access to speech as action, not merely the presentation of content. It does not establish the first occurrence of speech act in English or of Sprechakt in German. Later developments are not attributed to Austin without a separately identified source, and the present account does not claim a new examination of the entire subsequent literature.

How conceptual history changes the analysis

Identify the action performed or attempted, then examine its actual consequences. Giving advice is not the same as persuading someone to follow it. This distinction makes intention, communicative act, and outcome separately examinable.

Additional example

Original example: “I suggest waiting until we have the results.” The speaker offers advice; the listener may nevertheless act immediately. Countercheck: refusal to follow the advice does not mean no advice was given, just as agreement does not guarantee the suggested action will occur.

References for the historical section

Historical source evidence and Atlas applications remain separate; this import does not assert new first attestations or a fresh exhaustive source verification.