语言学Speechacttheory

1、2016Speech act theoryDefinition: a subfield of pragmatics concerned with the ways in which words can be used not only to present information but also to carry out actions. This is the first major theory in the study of language in use,which originated with the Oxford philosopher John Langshaw Austin

2、.Austin began to give lectures on his theory in 1952. In 1955,when he went to America to deliver the William James lectures,he revised the notes and changed the title from Words and Deeds to How to Do Things with Words,which was published posthumously in 1962.John Langshaw Austin a British philosoph

3、er of language and leading proponent of ordinary language philosophy, perhaps best known for developing the theory of speech acts. He pointed out that we use language to do things as well as to assert things, and that the utterance of a statement like I promise to do so-and-so is best understood as

4、doing something making a promise rather than making an assertion about anything. Hence the name of one of his best-known works How to do Things with Words.John Langshaw AustinBorn26 March 1911LancasterDied8 February 1960 (aged 48)OxfordAlma materBalliol College, OxfordEra20th-century philosophyRegio

5、nWestern PhilosophySchoolOrdinary language philosophy/linguistic philosophy, AnalyticMain interestsPhilosophy of language, philosophy of mind, ethics, philosophy of perceptionNotable ideasSpeech acts, performative utterancePerformatives and Constatives Austins first shot at the theory is the claim t

6、hat there are two types of sentences:performatives and constative. In his How to Do Things with Words,Austin argues that sentences like the following do not describe things.They cannot be said to be true or false. The uttering of these sentences is ,or is a part of ,the doing of an action. So they a

7、re called PERFORMATIVES. And verbs like name are called performance verbs.For example I name this ship the Queen Elizaberth. I bequeath my watch to my brother. I bet you sixpence it will rain tomorrow. I promise to finish it in time. I apologize. A simplified version of the FELICITY CONDITIONS suggested by Austin is as follows:There must be a relevant conventional procedure,and the relevant participants and circumstances must be appropriate.1The procedure must be executed correctly and completely.2Very often,the relevant