speech act

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Related to Speech-act: Illocutionary act

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.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.speech act - the use of language to perform some act
human action, human activity, act, deed - something that people do or cause to happen
congratulation, felicitation - the act of acknowledging that someone has an occasion for celebration
slander - words falsely spoken that damage the reputation of another
proposal, proposition - the act of making a proposal; "they listened to her proposal"
bid, bidding, command, dictation - an authoritative direction or instruction to do something
agreement - the verbal act of agreeing
citation - (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 disputing
offer, offering - the verbal act of offering; "a generous offer of assistance"
asking, request - the verbal act of requesting
reply, response - the speech act of continuing a conversational exchange; "he growled his reply"
description - the act of describing something
affirmation, assertion, statement - the act of affirming or asserting or stating something
denial - the act of refusing to comply (as with a request); "it resulted in a complete denial of his privileges"
rejection - the speech act of rejecting
objection - the speech act of objecting
making known, informing - a speech act that conveys information
disclosure, revealing, revelation - the speech act of making something evident
promise - a verbal commitment by one person to another agreeing to do (or not to do) something in the future
boast, boasting, jactitation, self-praise - speaking of yourself in superlatives
naming - the verbal act of naming; "the part he failed was the naming of state capitals"
challenge - a call to engage in a contest or fight
explanation - the act of explaining; making something plain or intelligible; "I heard his explanation of the accident"
denouncement, denunciation - a public act of denouncing
speech, 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.)
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
Sprechakt
References in periodicals archive ?
Philosophers from Europe address transcendental arguments in moral philosophy, particularly the general structure, general prospects, and problems of transcendental arguments, with a focus on examples from moral philosophy, then specific versions of transcendental reasoning and moral philosophy, focusing on reasoning based on the self-reflective structure of personal autonomy, rational agency, or human self-understanding, and varieties transcendental reasoning inspired by pragmatism, speech-act theory, and concepts of intersubjectivity.
The assertives you get after this process of speech-act analysis are just as narrow and static and freed from ambiguity and context as the formalization of their propositional contents into symbolic logic; formalization should follow from speech-act analysis with minimal fuss.
As McClendon and James Smith stated, "Saying something, talking, speech in the full sense that saying something is a way of acting meaningfully, is to be understood in terms of the crucial significance of the speech-act." (25)
Coley (English, Simon Fraser U., British Columbia) offers analysis of works by Chaucer (Saint Erkenwald and "The Manciple's Tale"), Marian lyrics by Thomas Hoccleve, and John Gower's Confessio Amantis, as well as the Wars of Alexander, utilizing methodology drawn from speech-act theory, especially that which concerns performative utterances (as propounded by J.L.
(11) Searle asserts that the symbol or word or sentence (or the token of the symbol or word or sentence) is not the unit of linguistic communication: it is the production of the token in the performance of the speech-act that constitutes the basic unit of linguistic communication.
Through the methods of performance criticism and speech-act theory, I look systematically at the narrative world of Mark and its use of words and how the story assumes and demonstrates a context in which words have power.
See, e.g., David Gorman, The Use and Abuse of Speech-Act Theory in Criticism, 20 POETICS TODAY 93, 108-09 (1999).
draws attention to Vanhoozer's use of speech-act theory to provide an account of meaning as authorial intention understood in terms of the action of an author--what he has done in, with, and through the text--not as it exists in his mind.
The reason this is important is that a rich pragmatic analysis of the norms and practices that make informed consent possible will have to attend to all of these material, nondiscursive conditions and negotiations; speech-act theory will not be enough.
The second part of this essay aims to suggest how a speech-act lexicon might be useful in generating a critical approach to subjectivity in Don Quijote.

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