speech act

n. An act that is performed by making an utterance, as the issuing of a warning, the making of a promise, or the giving of a greeting.

speech act

n 1. (Logic) an utterance that constitutes some act in addition to the mere act of uttering 2. (Philosophy) an act or type of act capable of being so performed

Thesaurus

Noun

speech act - the use of language to perform some acthuman action, human activity, act, deed - something that people do or cause to happencongratulation, felicitation - the act of acknowledging that someone has an occasion for celebrationslander - words falsely spoken that damage the reputation of anotherproposal, proposition - the act of making a proposal; "they listened to her proposal"bid, bidding, command, dictation - an authoritative direction or instruction to do somethingagreement - the verbal act of agreeingcitation - (law) the act of citing (as of spoken words or written passages or legal precedents etc.)disagreement - the speech act of disagreeing or arguing or disputingoffer, offering - the verbal act of offering; "a generous offer of assistance"asking, request - the verbal act of requestingreply, response - the speech act of continuing a conversational exchange; "he growled his reply"description - the act of describing somethingaffirmation, assertion, statement - the act of affirming or asserting or stating somethingdenial - the act of refusing to comply (as with a request); "it resulted in a complete denial of his privileges"rejection - the speech act of rejectingobjection - the speech act of objectingmaking known, informing - a speech act that conveys informationdisclosure, revealing, revelation - the speech act of making something evidentpromise - a verbal commitment by one person to another agreeing to do (or not to do) something in the futureboast, boasting, jactitation, self-praise - speaking of yourself in superlativesnaming - the verbal act of naming; "the part he failed was the naming of state capitals"challenge - a call to engage in a contest or fightexplanation - the act of explaining; making something plain or intelligible; "I heard his explanation of the accident"denouncement, denunciation - a public act of denouncingspeech, address - the act of delivering a formal spoken communication to an audience; "he listened to an address on minor Roman poets"resignation - the act of giving up (a claim or office or possession etc.)

Translations

speech act

illocutionary act

any social act which is accomplished by virtue of an utterance (e.g. promising, cursing). Associated especially with the philosophers J. Austin and J. Searle, the analysis of such illocutionary acts (and perlocutionary acts - the effects of an illocutionary act), is a central part of the subject matter of ORDINARY LANGUAGE PHILOSOPHY.

The analytical study of speech acts has affinities with a number of approaches in sociology, including the FORMAL SOCIOLOGY of SIMMEL, the work of GOFFMAN, and CONVERSATION ANALYSIS. The latter in particular is directly influenced by ordinary language philosophy (see also DEGRADATION CEREMONY). A further example of an approach influenced by the concept of speech act is the ‘ethogenic’ social psychology of Rom Harré (Social Being, 1979), which advances the idea of a possible ‘grammar’ of social encounters, one however, that would be far more complex than implied in philosophical conceptions of speech acts.

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speech act

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illocutionary act

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Words related to speech act

noun the use of language to perform some act

Related Words