CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGICAL SCIENCES (ISSN: 2767-3758)
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VOLUME:
Vol.06 Issue07 2025
10.37547/philological-crjps-06-07-02
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Speech Act Theory in Economic Discourse
Tursunmuradova Aziza Saidvaliyevna
English teacher at academic lyceum under Tashkent State University of law, Uzbekistan
Received:
15 May 2025
Accepted:
11 June 2025
Published:
13 July 2025
INTRODUCTION
One hypothesis in the philosophy of language that makes a
serious effort to methodically describe how language
functions is the speech act theory. Since it is currently one
of the main theories being carefully explored in the fields
of linguistics and communication, its broad effect has
extended beyond the boundaries of philosophy. In short, a
branch of pragmatics called speech act theory examines
how words are used to perform activities as well as convey
information.
In this article we will discuss how this speech act theory
will function in economic discourse. Since the speech act
theory has a power to influence listeners’ and make
communication meaningfull beyond simple row of words,
it is essential to analyze the application of three main
speech acts in the context of economic field.
METHODS
In this article we will apply comparative analysis of
different speech acts and their evolution, pragmatic
analysis to
illustrate pragmatic implication. The
framework of the article will be based on the foundational
works of pioneers, J. Austin and J. Searle. The discussion
will be continued by the further development of speech act
theory and some critiques in pragmatics.
RESULTS
The theory of speech acts are divided into three main
categories which are popular in modern linguistics and
subgroups of illocutionary act can illustrate how non-
verbal factors play an important role in commnication and
clarity of information transformation.
DISCUSSION
The theory's two primary pioneers were John Searle and J.
L. Austin. Austin started the work and established its
framework, and his most famous pupil, John Searle, further
organised it and strengthened its pillars. American
philosopher John Searle expanded on the speech act theory,
which Oxford philosopher J.L. Austin first presented in
"How to Do Things With Words". It takes into account
how much a speech is considered to do locutionary,
illocutionary, or perlocutionary acts. What has now been
referred to as the speech act hypothesis was first proposed
by Austin. He focused on categories of utterances rather
than categories of words or expressions.
In addition to the laws of language discussed by Carnap
and others, Grice argued that there are further "rules of
communication," which
he dubbed conversational
ABSTRACT
This article will discuss the origin of speech act theory and its categorization according to several researchers’ views. The
application of speech act theory in economical discourse will be analyzed and illustrated with the table of authentic samples . The
article will try to emphasize the role of speech act theory to study pragmatic features of economic discourse .
Keywords:
Illocutionary act, locutionary act, perlocutionary act, economic discourse, persuasive force, illocutionary force.
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maxims. According to these norms, one typically speaks
things that are not only true but also pertinent, supported,
etc. (And like the laws of logic, Grice claims that these
rules are an inherent feature of human rationality.)
Some contemporary theorists depart from Grice in that
they focus more on pragmatic than on semantic aspects of
communication, continuing the tradition of addressing
language by focusing on the analysis of speech and
communication.
The notion that language has significance beyond the
meanings of the words employed is known as speech act
theory. Language, often known as speech acts, is a tool
used to accomplish a variety of tasks. According to speech
act theory, the context in which we use our words, their
structure, and the sort of speech we are giving all affect
their meaning. It also describes how speech can produce a
result or an action. The study of pragmatics, or how
language is utilised in social contexts, includes this notion.
Speech act theory is studied by several linguists and
philosophers, like Andreas Kemmerling, in order to get a
deeper understanding of human communication. "Part of
the joy of doing speech act theory, from my strictly first-
person point of view," stated Kemmerling, "is becoming
more and more remindful of how many surprisingly
different things we do when we talk to each other" .
The locutionary act is "roughly equivalent to uttering a
certain sentence with a certain sense and reference," the
illocutionary act is "such as informing, ordering, warning,
undertaking, &c., i.e. utterances which have a certain
(conventional) force," and the perlocutionary act is "what
we bring about or achieve by saying something, such as
convincing, persuading, deterring, and even, say,
surprising or misleading" . All three types of acts can be
superimposed in an act of utterance, according to Austin.
According to Searle, speakers can only make five
illocutionary points about propositions in an utterance,
which are as follows:
The assertive;
The commissive;
The instruction;
The statement;
The expressive
Illocutionary
act types
Definition
Samples
Context
Assertive
A
remark
that
expresses a belief or
factual facts about the
world.
"The GDP contracted
by 2.5% in the last
quarter, indicating a
slowing economy."
Economic
analyst
reporting in a market
review.
Commissive
A promise made by
the speaker to take
action in the future.
"Our firm will invest
$10
million
in
renewable energy over
the next five years."
Company
pledge
made
during
an
investor meeting.
Instruction
A speaker's attempt to
persuade
the
audience
to
take
action.
"Ensure
the
revised
budget
is
submitted
before
the
audit
deadline."
CFO
directing
a
finance
department
team member.
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Expressive
A manifestation of
the
speaker's
emotional or mental
condition.
"We
regret
any
inconvenience
caused
by the recent system
outage."
Official apology in
customer or investor
communication.
Declarative
A
statement
that
implements a shift in
social or institutional
standing.
"The committee hereby
approves the new tax
policy effective July
1st."
Official
declaration
from a government
economic div.
Some contend that Austin and Searle only focused on
statements that were taken out of their potential context,
basing their work primarily on their intuitions. The fact that
the illocutionary force of a concrete speech act cannot
assume the shape of a sentence as Searle thought of it is, in
this view, one of the primary inconsistencies to his
proposed typology.
Instead, scholars propose that a speech act has a
communicative purpose distinct from that of a sentence,
which is a grammatical unit inside the formal structure of
language.
The hearer is viewed as having a passive function in speech
act theory. A given utterance's illocutionary force is
assessed based on its linguistic form as well as an
introspective assessment of whether the requisite felicity
conditions—not least with regard to the speaker's beliefs
and feelings—are met. As a result, interactional elements
are overlooked.
However, speech acts are connected to other speech acts
with a broader discourse context, so conversation is more
than just a series of separate illocutionary forces. Speech
act theory is inadequate in explaining what truly occurs in
conversation because it ignores the role that utterances play
in advancing discussion.
There are three types of speech acts: perlocutionary,
illocutionary, and locutionary acts. The effectiveness of the
acts in delivering the speaker's message to the target
audience is measured by whether they are direct or indirect.
The simplest way to describe locutionary acts is as "the
mere act of producing some linguistic sounds or marks
with a certain meaning and reference," according to Susana
Nuccetelli and Gary Seay's "Philosophy of Language: The
Central Topics." However, this is only an umbrella term
for the other two acts, which can occur simultaneously.
According to Austin, a locutionary speech act is roughly
comparable to making a specific utterance with a specific
sense and reference, which is also roughly equivalent to
meaning in the conventional sense. Accordingly,
locutionary refers to what is uttered. Additionally put forth
by Yule, who defines a locutionary act as the production of
meaningful utterances.
The example of the locutionary speech act can be seen in
the following sentences:
1. It’s so dark in this room.
2. The box is heavy.
The true situation is reflected in the two statements above.
The room's illumination is discussed in the first sentence,
and the box's weight is discussed in the second.
The communicative power of an utterance, such as making
a promise, expressing regret, or making a gift, is used to
carry out the illocutionary act. Another name for this action
is the act of stating or doing anything. The illocutionary act
is the most important degree of action in a speech act since
it is determined by the force that the speakers have sought.
Illocutionary act can be the real description of interaction
condition.
For example: 1. It’s so dark in this room. 2. The box is
heavy.
According to the aforementioned instances, the first
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statement requests that the light be turned on, and the
second sentence requests that the box be lifted up.
According to Hufford and Heasley , a perlocutionary act is
an action taken by a speaker when their speech has a
specific impact on the listener and other people. Offering
someone is another example of a perlocutionary act. The
term "perlocutionary act" describes how one speech affects
another person's thinking or behaviour. A perlocutionary
act is unique to the circumstances surrounding its issuance
and is therefore not typically accomplished simply by
making that precise utterance. It encompasses all
intentional or unexpected, frequently unpredictable
repercussions that a certain utterance in a specific scenario
causes. For instance:
Thus, speech acts can be further classified as either
illocutionary or perlocutionary. The former provides
instructions for the listener, such as making a promise,
giving an order, expressing regret, or expressing gratitude.
Contrarily, perlocutionary behaviours provide audiences
consequences, such as "I will not be your friend." In this
case, frightening the buddy into obedience is a
perlocutionary act, whereas the threat of friendship loss is
an illocutionary act.
The interaction between the speaker and the listener is
crucial to comprehend in the context of perlocutionary and
illocutionary acts of speech since they rely on the
audience's response to a particular speech.
CONCLUSION
Possessing the ability to decipher an utterance's underlying
meaning is crucial. If we are not careful, some words or
utterances could be misinterpreted as nasty. We can gain a
better comprehension of the utterances by comprehending
pragmatics and speech acts. English is used as a foreign
language in Indonesia. The English language contains
several idiomatic terms that the Indonesian language does
not.
These expressions operate as obstacles that might prevent
someone from understanding the words' or utterances' true
meaning. Speech acts could be socialised in the classroom
in an attempt to increase awareness of such obstacles. The
teacher should keep these three objectives in mind when
instructing students in specific expressions like advising,
complimenting, and congratulating: increasing awareness,
enhancing
knowledge,
and
fostering
productive
development.
The purpose of teaching speech actions in the classroom
should be to increase students' awareness that statements
made in English, a foreign language, may be
misunderstood. Accurately interpreting the intended
meaning through utterance analysis is essential. Students
may ascertain the meaning of the utterances and increase
their knowledge, which would enable them to execute the
speech act, by comprehending the conventions and
colloquial idioms of the first and second languages.
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