2. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
THIS IS A SELF-
CLEARING
CAFETERIA

3. WHAT IS PRAGMATICS?
Pragmatics is the branch of linguistics
which studies those aspects of meaning
which cannot be captured by semantic
theory. It is a systematic way of
explaining language use in context.

4. Locutionary, Illocutionary and Perlocutionary

5. IMAGINE THIS…
 The stewardess on a European airline
walked down the aisle with a coffeepot
and some cups. “Coffee, please!” she said
smiling to the passengers. A young
American smiled back at her and said,
“You’re the one who is serving the coffee,
ma’am, not me.” The stewardess blushed
and seemed somewhat bewildered. What
happened here?

6. Grammatical
Competence
Communicative
Competence

7. To speak is to act.
Every time a speaker utters a sentence, he is
attempting to accomplish something with the words;
specifically, he intends to have some effect on the
listener and wants the listener to recognize this
intention.

8. THE MAIN AIM OF THIS THEORY IS:
I sentence Describe Apologize
you to
death

9. Knowing the words is
not enough.
Speech-act theory, most notably
attributed to John Searle, is designed to
help us understand how people
accomplish things with their words.

10. A SPEECH ACT is a functional unit in
communication. It is an act that the
speaker performs when he makes
an utterance
Austin (1962) and Searle (1981) established that
whenever we say something, three simultaneous acts
are performed:

11. Is the act of saying or writing
something in a language.
It is the actual words spoken.

12. Is the “intention”we have
when saying or writing
something.
The FORCE of the word.
For Example:
•Son-Father
I don’t have any money •Girlfriend-boyfriend
•Classmates

13. Is the effect produced in
the listener or reader when
they listen or read a
locutionary act.
For Example:
•Accepting the request
I don’t have any
money •Denying the request

14. In colloquial language use we don’t really mean what we
say. In these cases the listener/reader must infer our
illocutionary acts since the meaning is not directly
expressed in our message.
The Philosopher Searle (1981) established a
classification which is useful for inferring the
illocutionary force or value of an utterance in a given
discourse.

15. Commissive A promise, vow, pledge.
Illocutionary
Acts If you don’t pay the bill we’ll call the police
Repeat
Directive Order, command, beg, plead, permit.
Illocutionary
Acts Please, come in!

16. An apology, a complain, thank or
Expressive congratulate.
Illocuationary
The letter was so beautilful; I’m sorry for
Acts being late.
Representative Assert, suggest, hypothesize, swear.
Illocuationary
I think he’s saying the truth.
Acts This is a German car.

17. Declarations the speaker brings about a correspondence
Illocuationary between the propositional content of his
Acts utterance and reality.
I now pronounce you Man and Wife
I name this Building Ruby
I order you to clean the house
Their use operates aprropriately only in situations
in which certain conditions are given and the one
who speaks is socially or academically invested
with the authority necessary for saying them.

18. Any speech act can be Direct or Indirect.
It depends on the speaker.
Direct Indirect
The locutionary act There is no coincidence
and the illocutionary between the type of
act coincide. illocutionary act and the
syntactic structure of
the message
The intention is
expressed in the
message The intention is not
explicitly expressed in
the message

19. FELICITY CONDITIONS
 It means that participants in the speech
act must have the power to carry out the
force, and the place in which all takes
place must be deemed appropriate.
 All procedures in the event must be
carried out correctly. These are
conditions necessary to the success of a
speech act. They take their name from a
Latin root - “felix” or “happy”.

20. Thomas (1995) cites an interesting case regarding
felicity conditions reported in the Guardian in 1987.
A terrible tangle has arisen in Pakistan over a
local soap opera. Soap opera star Uzman Pirzada
divorced his television wife in traditional Muslim
style, pronouncing Talaq- I divorce thee- three
times. The trouble was that his TV spouse was
played by his real wife, Samina. Now the ulemas
are saying that the divorce is binding, even
though the formula was spoken in the interests of
art. Their decree maintains that the Prophet
ordained that in three matters (marriage, divorce,
the freeing of slaves) words uttered
unintentionally or even in jest cannot be
withdrawn. Divorced they are and divorced they

21. SPEECH ACT SETS
• An apology is “an admission to another of
a wrong or discourtesy done to him
accompanied by an expression of
regret.”

22. APOLOGY: What would
you say if…
You are walking towards your classmates
while carrying a tray of food in the
canteen. You accidentally bump into a
stranger who is holding a glass of juice.
The drink spills all over him, scalding his
arm and soaking his cloth, the stranger
shouts “Oooh, ouch!”

23. APOLOGY: What would
you say if…
You and your friend had an agreement
to meet today at exactly 8am.
Unfortunately, the bus you ride on
encountered a system problem. The
passengers including you have to be
transferred to another vehicle causing
you to be late in your appointment.

24. APOLOGY: What would
you say if…
Your professor gave you a comprehensive
research. When you’re about to finish typing
your work a night before the submission, your
computer had program difficulties resulting to
its automatic shutdown. You type it again the
next morning at an internet café and able to
finish it, but you didn’t made it on time. Now, you
are trying to submit your paper to your teacher
even if it’s late.

25. APOLOGY: What would
you say if…
You are now celebrating your birthday. Your
parents brought up a little party for you.
Friends, relatives and schoolmates arrive at
your house. A newly meet friend turns up at
your party alone. You’ve seen your cousins
and attempt to introduce her to them. But
when you’re about to introduce her, for some
reason, you can’t remember her name.

26. APOLOGY: What would
you say if…
You are newly hired cashier at a store and still
adjusting on the use of the computing machine.
A customer who bought some school materials
came back to you and said that her change is not
enough, she said, “Excuse me, I think you had
given me the wrong amount of change” ,
showing her receipt to you. You’d look at it and
admitted to yourself that you’ve counted twice a
certain material.

27. APOLOGY: What would
you say if…
You’re on your way home when you’ve
mistaken someone else to someone
you knew. You tap his shoulder and
say, “Hey, What are you doing here?!”
He turns toward you and say, “I don’t
think we know each other.”

28. APOLOGY: What would
you say if…
You’ll attend a leadership seminar as the
representative of your school today. You arrive
alone at the lecture hall which the seminar is to
be conducted. You walk to the room and sit in
one of the vacant chairs. You’re busy reading a
brochure which is distributed at the registration
area, when somebody approach you and say,
“Excuse, you’re sitting on my chair.”

29. SPEECH ACT SETS
1. Explicit expression of apology (I’m sorry, Excuse me, I regret)
2. Expression of responsibility
3. An explanation
4. An offer of repair. (i.e. bid to take an action; provide payment)
5. A promise of nonrecurrence.

30. Other Strategies
• An intensification would make the
apology stronger, creating even more
support for the hearer and more
humiliation for the speaker.
• External modification can take the
form of a comment signaling added
concern to the hearer.

31. Selecting the appropriate speech act strategy
and the forms for realizing it
Social
status
• The process is
complex since it is
conditioned by social,
cultural, situational
Selection Social
age factors and personal factors.
distance
culture

32. Apologies
Filipino learners tend to emphasize the strategy of
explanation more than an American would. On the other
hand, they would underplay the strategy of repair, because
in Filipino culture, it would be for the recipient of apology
that will determine the next step. It would be presumptuous
findings for them to suggest what happen next. Furthermore, the
strategy where the apologizer commits him/herself to not
having the offense again, is situation-specific and less
frequent than the other strategies. One factor that may
support such is due to people’s hesitation of breaking the
said promise.
Not only could an intensifier play an important role,
but even an interjection like “Oh!” could have an
important role.

33. REQUEST: What would
you say if…
You live in a boarding house with a
friend. Both of you had an agreement
towards the division of duties and
household chores. Your friend held a
party last night and the kitchen was left in
a mess. You would like to ask her to clean
it up.

34. REQUEST: What would
you say if…
You missed your class yesterday
because you’re not feeling well. The
next morning, you’ve went to school
and planned to borrow your
classmate’s notes to cope up with
the lessons.

35. REQUEST: What would
you say if…
You’re riding on a bus on your way home
when you suddenly felt code because of
the window left unopened. You wished to
close it but you can’t personally reach the
window, and there’s someone sitting
beside you who is nearer to the window.

36. REQUEST: What would
you say if…
You’ve missed the van on the way home
and there isn’t another one for an hour.
You need to go home immediately
because you have plenty of things to
attend to. You saw someone whom you
assume will go in the same direction as
yours. You wish to ask him for a ride.

37. REQUEST: What would
you say if…
You can’t perform your job today
because of illness. The problem is you
can’t leave your task hanging
because certain paper works should
meet the deadline today. You would
like to ask someone to replace you for
a meantime.

38. REQUEST: What would
you say if…
Your teacher had given the class group
project. Your group had a hard time
meeting each other, the reason why you
and your classmates cannot meet the
deadline for the submission of your
projects. You will ask your teacher for an
extension.

39. REQUEST: What would
you say if…
You’ve went to a bookstore to look for
“The Tempest” by William Shakespeare.
Fifteen minutes passed and you still can’t
find the book. You look around for
someone to ask and saw the store
attendant on the other side of the shop.
You approach him and ask for his help.

40. Requests
• The speech act of requesting is
realized when the speaker verbalizes
a wish which can be carried out by
the hearer.
• The speech act set for the requests consists
of three major categories: the explicit
impositives, the conventionalized
routines, and indirect hints.

41. • Indirect hints are individual,
nonconventional utterances, which under
given circumstances can act as requests.
• The explicit is the most direct strategy
that is usually realized by syntactic
requests such as imperatives or other
performatives.
• The conventionalized requests are
polite realizations through conventional
forms such as yes-no questions, with
modals in English

42. Requests in any languages are made in consideration of a
number of social and situational factors. Some of the
social/situational factors include:
• Relative dominance of the requester in relation to the
hearer.
• Relative social distance (familiarity) between the
interlocutors.
• Hearer’s degree of obligation in carrying out the
request.
• The right the speaker has to issue the request
• Estimated degree of difficulty the speaker has in
making the request.
• Estimated likelihood of compliance on the part of the
hearer.

43. Compliments
Major compliment topics can be classified into
three categories:
• appearance/possession
• performance/skills/abilities
• personality traits

44. Compliments
• In American English, we use compliments for a variety of reasons:
• to express admiration or approval of someone’s work, appearance, taste
• to establish/maintain solidarity
• to replace greetings/gratitude/apologies/congratulations
• to soften face-threatening acts such as apologies, requests and criticisms
• to open and sustain conversation
• to reinforced desired behavior

45. COMPLIMENT: What
would you say if…
You’re friend joined an Essay
Writing Contest. It’s her first time to
join such competition as
representative of your school. Your
friend did well and grab the 1st
place.

46. COMPLIMENT: What
would you say if…
You notice one of your
classmate’s shirt which is
the same shirt you intend to
buy at the mall.

47. COMPLIMENT: What
would you say if…
You and your classmates have a group
research. As a leader, you facilitate on
the planning and brainstorming of ideas.
You asked for suggestions among your
members, and one of your group mates
suggests a good idea that everyone
agrees to.

48. COMPLIMENT: What
would you say if…
One of your teachers delivered a
speech on your school’s annual
recognition day. She relates her
experiences and insights in life
which greatly inspires you. You saw
her after the program.

49. COMPLIMENT: What
would you say if…
You’ve watched a movie which
really appeals to your heart. The
story aligns to your own
experiences in life, which is why you
really appreciate the film. Upon
returning home, you can’t help but
to talk about the movie.

50. COMPLIMENT: What
would you say if…
You’re celebrating your birthday
today. As you’ve went downstairs,
you saw your sister waiting for you
at the table. She greeted you a
Happy Birthday and gives you her
gift. You opened it immediately. It’s
the watch you wished to have.

51. The teaching of speech acts
Speech acts are difficult to perform in a
second language.
Sarah: "I couldn’t agree with you more. "
Arma: "Hmmm…." (Thinking: "She
couldn’t agree with me? I thought she liked
my idea!")

52. Implication for language teacher, the learner, and
the language classroom
1. Diagnostic assessment
2. Model dialog
3. Evaluation of a situation
4. Role-play activities
5. Feedback and discussion

53. SO WHAT?
By understanding the
details of what is being
said, you can understand
and communicate better
with others.

54. ACTIVITY
 You are directed to think of a
potential violation/request that
might occur. Provide your own
details of the situation.
 Act it out, in role-play fashion,
the conversation which is likely
to take place between the two
interlocutors.