Classifying what a piece of communication actually does - in linguistic terms.

I was wondering: what do linguistics think about communication acts when it comes to describe communication intentions? I mean - if brands sort of "talk" with consumers - there must be certain intentions of such "speech acts". Marketers would describe them in their terms ("generate awareness", "create buzz", bla-bla). But how do linguists or language philosophers think about "speech acts" and their intentions?

According to Searle and his famous "How to Do Things With Words" there are these 5 types of "speech acts" - differing by what they actually want to bring about:


Assertives :
They commit the speaker to something being the case. The different kinds are: suggesting, putting forward, swearing, boasting, concluding. Example: ``No one makes a better cake than me''.
Directives :
They try to make the addressee perform an action. The different kinds are: asking, ordering, requesting, inviting, advising, begging. Example: ``Could you close the window?''.
Commisives :
They commit the speaker to doing something in the future. The different kinds are:, planning, vowing, betting, opposing. Example: ``I'm going to Paris tomorrow''.
Expressives :
They express how the speaker feels about the situation. The different kinds are: thanking, apologising, welcoming, deploring. Example: ``I am sorry that I lied to you''
Declarations :
They change the state of the world in an immediate way. Example: "You are fired":

1 comment:

  1. Thanks!

    This is a nice way to explain the role of a give piece of communications and how it relates to a specific communication task.

    Lets say a brand is trying to increase market share. The role of communication might be to drive trial and the communication task to remind and give a clear call to action. That would be Directive. The interesting thing is the difference between this and Commissive or Expressive witch would be the solution to a different problem.

    This also ties nicely into the scale of immediacy from the grand master Stephen King.

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