A locutionary act is a concept in the philosophy of language and speech‑act theory that refers to the act of producing an utterance that has a particular semantic content and grammatical structure. It is the first of three distinct components identified by J. L. Austin in his theory of speech acts, later developed by John Searle and other philosophers.
Definition
The locutionary act comprises the actual act of saying something with a specific meaning, including:
- Phonetic act – the physical production of sounds or signs.
- Phonological act – the organization of those sounds according to the rules of a language’s sound system.
- Syntactic act – the arrangement of words into a grammatically correct sentence.
- Semantic act – the determination of the proposition or meaning conveyed by the sentence.
In other words, the locutionary act is the act of uttering a meaningful sentence that can be understood by speakers of the language.
Relation to Other Speech‑Act Categories
Austin distinguished the locutionary act from two further layers:
- Illocutionary act – the performance of an act in saying something, such as asserting, questioning, commanding, or promising.
- Perlocutionary act – the effects the utterance has on the listener, such as persuading, deterring, or informing.
While the locutionary act concerns the literal meaning and linguistic form, the illocutionary act concerns the speaker’s intended function, and the perlocutionary act concerns the consequent response of the audience.
Historical Development
The term appears in Austin’s seminal work How to Do Things with Words (1962), where he outlines the three‑fold classification of speech acts. John Searle expanded on Austin’s framework in Speech Acts (1969) and subsequent writings, preserving the distinction between locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts.
Examples
- Uttering the sentence “It is raining” involves a locutionary act that conveys a proposition about weather.
- The same utterance may also perform an illocutionary act of informing, and may have perlocutionary effects such as prompting the listener to take an umbrella.
Philosophical Significance
The concept of the locutionary act underlies analyses of meaning, reference, and the conditions under which language can be used to perform actions. It is central to discussions of intentionality in language, the analysis of performative utterances, and the study of pragmatics.
Key References
- Austin, J. L. (1962). How to Do Things with Words. Oxford University Press.
- Searle, John (1969). Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge University Press.
- Brandom, Robert (1994). Making It Explicit: Reasoning, Representing, and Discursive Commitment. Harvard University Press – discusses the role of locutionary acts in inferentialism.
See Also
- Illocutionary act
- Perlocutionary act
- Speech‑act theory
- Pragmatics (linguistics)
Categories
- Philosophy of language
- Linguistics
- Analytical philosophy
This entry reflects current scholarly consensus as of the latest available literature.