Speech act

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Revision as of 14:01, 18 September 2012

Speech acts became a topic in the English-speaking world in the middle of the twentieth century. It was then recognized that language can do more than only describe reality (Green, 2007). Wolfgang Zierhofer interprets the concept of ‘speech act’ as a blueprint for the analysis of interactions in general (Zierhofer, 2002, abstract). As he claims: “I will demonstrate in what way the notions of speech acts and of validity claims are not only a key to understanding sociality, but are also important in analyzing social structures and their reproductions.” (Zierhofer, 2002, p. 1355)

A speech act implies a certain expectation of a reaction (Zierhofer, 2002, p. 1355). For instance: you make a joke, to make somebody smile. Or you ask a question, in order to get an answer. This indicates that speech acts provide a binding force between actions (Zierhofer, 2002, p. 1355). As Zierhofer (2002, p. 1362) states: “Speech acts bind activities of different people by demanding a particular behavior: they are successful to the extent that their words elicit a specific reaction.” Speech acts determine what in the end all the subjects have to do. Whenever we do something with words, or other ways to make something clear, for instance with signs or utterances, we try to influence a subsequent action by execute a speech act (Zierhofer, 2002).

A speech act differs from other actions because of the fact that a speech act is dependent of two actors to make the action successful: the ‘sender’ and the ‘receiver’ (Zierhofer, 2002, p. 1361). This means that the reaction of the receiver is an importent element of the intention of the speech act. “Therefore, the intentions of speech acts entail other actions, forming units of interaction, of social activity.” (Zierhofer, 2002, p. 1361). So language is not only an instrument of representation, but it also is an instrument to coordinate and regulate actions (Zierhofer, 2002, p. 1362).

In order to be effective, a speech act needs to be accepted as a valid expression: speech acts necessarily make Validity Claims (Zierhofer, 2002, p. 1363). Those validity claims are accepted by the receiver when he or she fulfills the intention of the speaker, even when the receiver doesn’t know these intentions. So: “Validity claims are accepted when a speech act successfully coordinates two actions.” (Zierhofer, 2002, p. 1363)

References:

Green, M. (2007). Speech acts. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Gevonden op 4 oktober 2010, via http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/speech-acts/

Zierhofer, W. (2002). Speech acts and space(s): language pragmatics and the discursive constitution of the social. Environment and Planning A 2002, volume 34, pages 1355-1372

Edited by Pauline van Heugten & Evelien Kuypers