Letteratura angloamericana

Order

1. The ordered act is a future act by B.

2. B is able to perform the act; B has the obligation to do so.

3. A genuinely believes that B should perform the act.

4. The utterance counts as an attempt by A to oblige B to do an act.

Warning

1. It is about a future event.

2. A believes that the event will occur and will be harmful to B; A believes that it is not obvious to B that the event will occur.

3. A genuinely believes that the event will be harmful to B.

4. The utterance counts as an attempt by A to have B recognise that a certain future event will be harmful to him/her.

Habermas’ approach: validity claims

According to Habermas (1981), when speakers produce speech acts they presuppose that the illocutions are valid, that is, true, sincere, and legitimate.

For example, if you say “I am the boss now,” you presuppose:

• That it is true that you’re the boss.
• That you really mean it.
• That you have the authority to proclaim yourself the boss.

Therefore, an illocution is successful, i.e., it leads to the intended illocution, only if the receiver acknowledges its validity in terms of truth, sincerity, and legitimacy.

Example of validity claims

Teacher to student: Could you bring me a coffee?

In what cases may the illocution be unsuccessful? The student may refuse the teacher’s request as invalid on the basis of:

• Truth, i.e., the teacher knows that I cannot do that.
• Sincerity, i.e., the teacher does not really want any coffee.
• Legitimacy, i.e., the teacher has no right to ask me that.

Illocutions in discourse

Often the utterance itself provides some indication of the intended illocution. Most of the time, however, illocutions are implicit.

In order to link the right illocution to a locution, one needs to have sufficient knowledge of (a) the discourse situation, (b) the relation between the participants, and (c) the world.

Example of illocutions in discourse

A: Can you stop by my office in a minute?

This interrogative possesses the illocutionary intent of a request. However, it must be interpreted as an order when it is uttered by a supervisor to a subordinate. This requires knowledge of (a) and (b).