Speech act theory is a contemporary philosophical approach to language inspired by John L. Austin and his book How to Do Things with Words and developed by John Searle in Speech Acts (1969).
Austin puts to the test the deep-rooted tendency to assume that the only or main function of language is to utter messages designed to describe the world.
An adequate position on human language must recognize that in addition to declarative sentences (messages that make sense to ask if they are true), there are performative sentences (for example, taking a vow, making a promise, or issuing a judgment). In addition, Austin finds that the same sentence can have locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary force.
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