Illocutionary Acts And Sentence Meaning May 2026

'ing). When a speaker utters a sentence, they take responsibility for certain conditions being true (e.g., in a request to open a window, the speaker is responsible for the condition that the window is actually closed). Taxonomy of Speech Acts

Alston’s central thesis is that for a sentence to have a particular meaning is for it to be to perform illocutionary acts of a matching type. Illocutionary Acts and Sentence Meaning

Acts that bring about a change in status or state simply by being uttered, such as marrying a couple or adjourning a meeting. Key Components of a Speech Act Illocutionary Acts and Sentence Meaning

Utterances that express a psychological state, such as apologizing or congratulating. Illocutionary Acts and Sentence Meaning

Meaning is determined by a sentence's potential to play the role a speaker intended.