CATARMAN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
CATARMAN N. SAMAR
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
OUTLINE REPORT
ORAL COMMUNICATION IN CONTEXT
BERT JOHN G. VERZOSA
CRISSOL ANNE G. DE PADUA
GINALYN LOBERIANO
ELNA DIZON
PHILIP LOBERIANO
RICO MAC REYES
STEM BENEVOLENCE
JENNYVIVE T. ACIBAR
SUBJECT TEACHER
Speech act
A Speech act is an utterance that a speaker makes to achieve an intended effect.
Some of the function which are carried out using speech acts are offering an
apology, greeting, request, complaint, invitation, compliment, or refusal. A speech
act might contain just one word or several words or sentences. For example,
“THANKS” and “THANK YOU FOR ALWAYS BEING THERE FOR ME. I
REALLY APPRECIATE IT” both show appreciation regardless of the length of
the statement.
Three types of Speech act:
Locutionary act – is the actual act of uttering
ex: “Please do the dishes”
Illocutionary act- is the social function of what is said
ex: By uttering the Locution “Please do the dishes”, the speaker request the
addresse to wash the dishes
Perlocutionary act- is the resulting act of what is said. This effect is based on the
particular context in which the speech act was mentioned.
ex: “Please do the dishes” would lead to the addresse washing the dishes
There are also indirect speech acts which occur when there is no direct connection
between the form of the utterance and the intended meaning. They are different in
force (i.e., intention) from the inferred speech act.
For example, read the following utterance:
“Can you pass the rice?”
Inferred speech act. Do you have the ability to hand over the rice?
Indirect speech act: Please pass the rice
So, while the utterance literally asks the addresse if he or she has the ability to
hand a plate of rice, it actually indirectly requests the addresse to pass the rice to
the speaker.
Performatives
and when making a performative utterance. Austin has also introduced the concept
of performative utterance; statements which enable them to perform something by
just stating it. In this manner, verbs that execute the speech and that they intend to
effect are called Performatives. A performative utterance said by the right person
and the right circumstances results in a result in a change in the world. Note that
certain conditions have to be met when making a performative utterance.
For example, the phrase “I now pronounce you husband and wife” when uttered by
an authorized person such as a judge will have the actual effect of binding a couple
in a marriage. However, if the same statement is uttered to the same couple in the
same place by a someone who is not authorized to marry them
Searle’s classification of speech act
As response to Austin’s speech act theory, John Searle (1962), a professor from the
university of California, Berkeley, classified illocutionary acts into five distinct
categories.
-Assertive
-Directive
-Commissive
-expressive
-Declaration
1.Assertive- a type of illocutionary act in which the speaker expresses belief about
the truth of a preposition. Some examples of assertive speech act are suggesting,
putting, forward, swearing,
boasting, and concluding.
Ex.
No one makes better pancakes than I do
2. Directive- a type of illocutionary act in which the speaker tries to make the
addressee perform an action.
Some examples are asking, ordering, requesting, inviting, advising, and begging.
Ex.
Please close the door
3. Commissive- a type of illocutionary act which commits the speaker to do
something in the future.
Example of commissive act are promising, planning vowing, and betting.
Ex.
From now on I will participate in our group activity
4. Expressive- a type of illocutionary act in which the speaker expresses his/her
feelings or emotional reactions. Some examples of an expressive act are thanking,
apologizing, welcoming, and deploring.
Ex.
I am so sorry for not helping out in our group projects and letting you do all the
works.
5.Declaration- a type of illocutionary act which brings change in the external
situation simply put, declaration brings into existence or cause the state of affairs
which they to. Some examples of declaration are blessing, firing, baptizing,
bidding, passing, a sentence and excommunicating.
Always keep in mind that speech acts include concrete life interaction that
requires the appropriate use of language within a given culture. Communicative
competence (i.e, the ability to use linguistic knowledge to effectively communicate
with others) is essential for a speaker to be able to use and understand speech acts.
Idioms and other nuances in a certain language might be lost or misunderstood by
someone who does not fully grasp the language yet.
