Pragmatics
Identifying direct and indirect speech acts
If you consider a particular sentence and you are still not quite sure how you know or how you can find out whether the speech act is a direct or indirect one, read through and remember the following steps.
a) Sentences with performative verbs.
| Step 1 | Check if the performative verb is used preformatively. | |
|---|---|---|
| yes: go to step 2 | ||
| no: go to b) | ||
| Step 2 | Check if the performative verb matches the speech act expressed by the sentence. | |
| yes: direct | ||
| no: indirect |
b) Sentences without performative verbs or with performative verbs
not used performatively.
| Step 1 | Check the sentence form of the given sentence (declarative, interrogative, imperative). | |
|---|---|---|
| Step 2 | Refer to the table below (typical association) and find out the speech act associated with the sentence form identified in step 1. | |
| Step 3 | Determine the actual speech act expressed by the sentence. | |
| Step 4 | Check if the speech acts identified in steps 2 and 3 match. | |
| yes: direct | ||
| no: indirect |
Typical association between sentence form and speech acts.
| Sentence form | Speech act | Example |
|---|---|---|
| declarative | assertion | John has only five dollars. |
| interrogative | question | Who ate my cheesecake? |
| imperative | order request | Give me that book. Please pass me the salt. |