Establish a speech event & use it to elaborate and exemplify speech act theory

and performative hypothesis.

A speech act is a minimal functional unit in human communication. Just as a word is the smallest
free form found in language and a morpheme is the smallest unit of language that carries
information about meaning the basic unit of communication is a speech act. 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. In English they are given more specific labels as apology, complaint,
compliment, invitation, promise or request. Both speaker and hearer are helped in this process
by the circumstances surrounding the utterance: the context. These circumstances including other
utterances are called the Speech Events. It’s the nature of the speech event that determines the
interpretation of the utterance. Speech acts can be analyzed on three levels; Locutionary Act,
Illocutionary Act and Perlocutionary Act. An expression or the verb that explicitly show the
illocutionary act being performed is called performative verb. Performative hypothesis states
that underlying every act there is a clause containing a performative verb which makes the
illocutionary force explicit.

Following is a speech event of siblings.

Setting

Aleem and Saif are sitting in the TV lounge and Maryam joins them with two cups of espresso;
one for herself and one for Saif. She did not make coffee for Aleem because he does not like
espresso very much.

Maryam: I hereby inform you that I have just made some fresh espresso.

 Locutionary act: a meaningful linguistic expression (I hereby inform you that I have just
made some fresh espresso)
 Illocutionary force: Maryam has uttered (I have just made some fresh espresso) as a
statement or for information purpose
 Explicit Performative (inform)
Saif (gladly): Oh! It smells wonderful. (Gets up to take a cup of fresh espresso from her and starts
drinking)

 Perlocutionary effect: The effect that Maryam’s utterance has on Saif is that he feels glad
that she has made some espresso, gets up to take one cup from her and starts drinking.(as
intended by Maryam)
 Illocutionary force: Compliment
 Implicit Performative

Maryam (to Aleem who is sitting beside Saif on the sofa): Isn’t that the electric toothbrush you
are holding?

 Locutionary act: a meaningful linguistic expression

 Illocutionary force: Maryam made this utterance with the intention to inquire from Aleem
 Implicit Performative

Aleem: I affirm with you that it is.

 Perlocutionary effect: a verbal response to the question.

 Illocutionary force: Affirmation
 Explicit Performative (affirm)

Maryam (sits beside Aleem): I really like Oral-B products and it is reasonable too.

 Locutionary act: a meaningful linguistic expression

 Illocutionary force: The act performed by the utterance is of compliment
 Implicit performative

Aleem: I will buy one for you too.

 Locutionary act: a meaningful linguistic expression

 Illocutionary force: The act performed by the utterance is of making a commitment
 Implicit performative

Maryam (gladly): I am thrilled that you said so.

  Perlocutionary effect: The effect that Aleem’s utterance has on Maryam is that she feels
glad(as intended by Aleem)
 Illocutionary force: The act performed by the utterance is of expressing an emotion
 Implicit performative

Saif (recollects something): Oh! Maryam we are planning to visit dobby over the weekend and
wanted to know if you would go with us?

 Locutionary act: a meaningful linguistic expression

 Illocutionary force: The act performed by the utterance is of invitation
 Implicit performative

Maryam (with a grim expression on her face): Erm… I would love to go with you guys but this
weekend just isn’t going to work. I have a lot of pending projects to finish.

 Perlocutionary effect: Saif’s utterance made Maryam feel sad although it was not intended
by Saif
 Illocutionary force: Maryam informs Saif that she cannot go because she has a lot of
pending projects to finish.
 Implicit Performative

Saif (feels disappointed): But I request you that if you could please try to finish your projects
before the weekend?

 Locutionary act: a meaningful linguistic expression

 Illocutionary force: The act performed by the utterance is of request
 Explicit performative (request)

Maryam (Shrugs her shoulders and gets up): Well, I should start working then before wasting any
more time.

 Perlocutionary effect: On hearing Saif’s utterance, Maryam shrugs her shoulders and
gets up to resume her work as intended by Saif. He wants her to finish her work so that
she could get free by the weekend.
 Illocutionary force: Maryam informs Saif that she should start working.
  Implicit performative

(Maryam goes back to her room)

In the above series of dialogues all of the participants shared the same context. All three of them
were siblings exchanging dialogues so it was very easy for every participant to understand what
the other person was saying. Because siblings often grow up in the same household, they have a
large amount of exposure to one another. For example, Maryam knows that Aleem does not like
espresso very much, so she made only two cups. If there had been any outsider present in the room,
he would not have understood why she has not made an offer to Aleem. Also, he would have
thought of Maryam being mean/rude to Aleem.