Cited by 21,496Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic VariationWittgensteinian philosophy and applicationsEpistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics

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How To Do Things With Words

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Austin, J.L.·1975·Routledge eBooks

DOI 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198245537.001.0001

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This work sets out the author's conclusions in the field to which he directed his main efforts for at least the last ten years of his life. Starting from an examination of his already well-known distinction between performative utterances and statements, he finally abandons that distinction, replacing it with a more general theory of ‘illocutionary forces’ of utterances, which has important bearings on a wide variety of philosophical problems.

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“…used to describe natural communication processes cannot identify the context dependence of meaning and its deep grammar that may represent different, and even contradictory, meanings to the superficial grammar that is present in identical sign sequences (Austin, 1975; Searle, 1976; Habermas, 1987).”
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“Speech acts are not merely uttered but carefully crafted to adjust the listener's interpretations of the linguistic and direct meaning of sentences: hence, the term speech “acts” (Austin, 1962).”
BackgroundMethod

Authors: Austin, J. L.
Corresponding author: Austin, J.L.
Venue: Routledge eBooks
Publisher: Oxford University PressOxford
Published: 1975-09-18
Pages: 177-182
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198245537.001.0001
OpenAlex: W1576632330
Cited by: 21,496
References: 0
Citations by year: 2026: 432 · 2025: 587 · 2024: 705 · 2023: 823 · 2022: 768 · 2021: 996 · 2020: 1094 · 2019: 1291 · 2018: 1056 · 2017: 881 · 2016: 898 · 2015: 873 · 2014: 960 · 2013: 858 · 2012: 797
FWCI: 374.62
Type: book chapter
Language: en
Open access: green
hdl.handle.net
Licence: other-oa
Locations: Routledge eBooks (publishedVersion)
DIAL (Catholic University of Leuven) (submittedVersion)
MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Topics: Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Wittgensteinian philosophy and applications
Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics
Keywords: performatives, illocutionary force, statements, speech acts, pragmatics, philosophy of language

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