Lecture 8 (optional) - Speech Acts

The second level of language that we want
to discuss is speech acts.

We already saw one instance in the example
of advising, when I advised you to floss

your teeth every day.
But the clearest examples probably occur

in games and in ceremonies.
One famous incident that occurred I

believe at a Yankee's game, was when a
batter hit two strikes and three balls,

and the pitcher threw the ball near the
strike zone and the batter didn't swing.

So the umpire didn't say anything.
And the batter turned to the umpire and

said, Well, ump, am I out or is that a
walk?

And the umpire said, You ain't nothin'
till I say so.

And that's the lesson of speech acts.
With a speech act, you're nothin' till you

say so, because it's the saying so that
makes you so.

And the rules of baseball mean that you're
out and it was a strike if the umpire says

so.
But you walk and it was a ball if the

umpire says so.
Now, maybe the umpire should have called a

ball when he called a strike, or should
have called a strike when he called a

ball.
But it doesn't matter,

Because he makes a mistake and calls it a
strike and you're out.

So the next kind of example involves
ceremonies.

Imagine that you're at a traditional
wedding ceremony,

And the bride and the groom show up with
an officiate at an appropriate location.

And the officiate says to the man, Do you
take this woman to be your lawfully wedded

wife?
And he says, I do.

Then the officiate turns to the bride and
says, Do you take this man to be your

lawfully wedded husband?
And she says, I do.

Then the officiate says, I now pronounce
you husband and wife.

That's pretty cool.
By uttering those words he made them

husband and wife.
The words changed their relationship in a

legal way, in a religious way, and in a
personal way.

All of that happened just by uttering
words.

And notice also that you can use a special
little word to explain this.

You can say that he thereby pronounced
them husband and wife.

By uttering the words, I now pronounce you
husband and wife, he thereby pronounced

them husband and wife because it was right
then and there, in those words, by means

of those words that he made them husband
and wife.

These words provide us with a nice general
test, called the thereby test.

Here's a certain pattern of words, if I
say I blank, then I thereby blank.

I blank by means of saying I blank.
Now, sometimes the net blank with some

words will make sense, but it won't make
sense with other words, and that'll

provide a test, because when you can fill
in that blank with a verb, and it makes

sense, then that verb names a speech act.
So, for example, if I say, I now pronounce

you man and wife, then I thereby pronounce
you man and wife.

My speech act is pronouncing you.
And if I say I apologize, I thereby

apologize.
Notice that what the formula does is it

takes you from the words, which are in
quotation marks, and the if clause of the

thereby test, to the world.
Because when it's not inside quotation

marks on the right side of the thereby
test, it refers to the world.

So when it's in quotation marks, it's
about the words.

And when it's not in quotation marks on
the right side, it refers to the world,

And the formula takes you from the words
to the world, and that's what's tricky

about it.
It's amazing that you can actually use

your words to change the world,
But only in the special case of speech

acts.
Of course, all of this works only in the

right circumstances.
You can't just randomly walk up to any

couple on the street and say, I now
pronounce you husband and wife.

Just try it.
Excuse me, I wanted to say something.

I now pronounce you husband and wife.
Thank you. [laugh]

Well, lucky they didn't hit me.
You obviously cannot pronounce people

husband and wife if you're not an
officiate, they're not a bride and groom

who have said I do.
It has to occur in the right

circumstances.
And sometimes, which circumstances are the

right circumstances will be very
controversial.

People argue about whether a man can marry
a man or a woman can marry a woman.

The ones who think that you can't think
that marriage has, as part of its

appropriate circumstances, that only
people of different genders can get

married.
A man can marry a woman, but can't marry

another man.
Whereas other people think that a man can

marry a man and a woman can marry a woman.
So it's going to be controversial which

circumstances are appropriate for a
marriage ceremony.

But everybody agrees that you can't just
do it randomly to any old couple on the

street.
So everybody agrees that there are going

to be limits.
And that the speech act works only in the

appropriate circumstances.
And we can build that into the thereby

test by just adding a few words.
If I say I blank in the appropriate

circumstances, then I thereby blank.
But it's only in the appropriate

circumstances, that you can perform the
speech act by uttering the words.

Now we can use the thereby test to pick
out speech acts.

Because it works for a lot of different
examples.

If I say, I promise to meet you for lunch
tomorrow, in the appropriate

circumstances, then I thereby promise to
meet you for lunch tomorrow.

So promising is a speech act.
If I say, I thank you for inviting me to

your party, and throwing such a great
party, by the way.

Then I do thereby thank you for inviting
me to your party and for throwing such a

good party, by the way.
So thanking is a speech act.

If I say I apologize for tripping over
your legs, then I thereby apologize for

tripping over your legs.
Notice that the circumstances matter in all

these cases.
If I say I apologize, but I don't really

feel sorry, then I did apologize, but it
was an insincere apology, because the

circumstances weren't right since I didn't
have the appropriate feelings.

But I still did apologize.
Now in contrast whether I promise you or

threaten you depends on whether the thing
that I promise or threaten to do is

something that you want.
If you want me to do it, then I'm

promising.
But if you don't want me to do it, then I

might be threatening.
So, your attitudes towards the thing that

I'm going to do determines whether my
speech act is a promise or a threat.

In all of these cases, the circumstances
are going to matter.

So in that example, the circumstances
affect which speech act I perform.

But in other cases,
The circumstances affect whether I really

perform any speech act at all, or fail to
perform the speech act that I was trying to.

Here's an example of that.

If I say to you, I bet you that Duke will
win the next national championship, and I

think Ram Neta might be foolish enough to
take that bet, then what if he responds by

saying No, I won't bet you?
Now, have I performed a speech act of

betting?
No.

Have I performed another speech act?
Not really. What have I performed?

So sometimes when the circumstances aren't
right you perform a different speech act

and sometimes when the circumstances
aren't right you don't perform any speech

act at all.
It really is very sensitive to the

particular circumstances in which you're
speaking.

But why do we care about speech acts here
when we're supposed to be studying

arguments?
Well that's because arguing is a speech

act.
You argue with language.

It's one of those things that you do in
using language in a certain way.

You're intending to provide reasons and
you're providing what you take to be a

reason, but to justify or explain the
conclusion.

And justifying and explaining are other
things that you do with language.

Those are speech acts too.
So when we're studying arguments, we're

studying a particular kind of speech acts.
And that's why it makes it important to

understand speech acts.
Because we need to view arguing in the

context of the other speech acts that I've
just discussed.

Now there's an awful lot more to say about
speech acts, and I can't say it here.

In these lectures, I just want to give the
idea in a very basic and simple way.

If you want more detail, we have a more
extended discussion of speech acts in the

accompanying book, Understanding
Arguments.

But just to make sure you understand the
basics let's do a few exercises first and

then in the next lecture we'll go on to
talk about conversational acts.